Caesars Entertainment Inc (CZR) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Caesars Entertainment, Inc. 2023 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加凱撒娛樂公司 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Brian Agnew, Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance, Treasury and Investor Relations.

現在，我想將會議交給今天的發言人，公司財務、財務和投資者關係高級副總裁布萊恩·阿格紐 (Brian Agnew)。

Thank you, Josh, and good afternoon to everyone on the call. Welcome to our conference call to discuss our third quarter 2023 earnings.

謝謝你，喬什，祝所有參加電話會議的人下午好。歡迎參加我們的電話會議，討論我們 2023 年第三季的收益。

This afternoon, we issued a press release announcing our financial results for the period ended September 30, 2023. A copy of the press release is available on the Investor Relations section of our website at investor.caesars.com.

今天下午，我們發布了一份新聞稿，公佈了截至 2023 年 9 月 30 日的財務業績。新聞稿的副本可在我們網站 Investor.caesars.com 的投資者關係部分獲取。

As usual, joining me on the call today are Tom Reeg, our CEO; Anthony Carano, our President and Chief Operating Officer; Bret Yunker, our CFO; and Eric Hession, President, Caesars Sports and Online Gaming.

和往常一樣，今天與我一起參加電話會議的是我們的執行長 Tom Reeg；安東尼‧卡拉諾，我們的總裁兼營運長； Bret Yunker，我們的財務長；艾瑞克‧赫森 (Eric Hession)，凱撒體育與線上遊戲總裁。

Before I turn the call over to Anthony, I would like to remind you that during today's conference call, we may make certain forward-looking statements about the company's performance. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, one should not place undue reliance on them. Forward-looking statements are also subject to the inherent risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed. For additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in our comments today, you should refer to the cautionary statements contained in our press release and also the risk factors contained in our company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Caesars Entertainment undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after today's call.

在我將電話轉給安東尼之前，我想提醒您，在今天的電話會議中，我們可能會對公司的業績做出某些前瞻性陳述。此類前瞻性陳述並不能保證未來業績，因此，不應過度依賴它們。前瞻性陳述也受到固有風險和不確定性的影響，這些風險和不確定性可能導致實際結果與所表達的結果有重大差異。有關可能導致實際結果與我們今天評論中討論的結果不同的因素的更多信息，您應該參閱我們新聞稿中包含的警告聲明以及我們公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中包含的風險因素。凱撒娛樂不承擔修改或更新任何前瞻性陳述以反映今天電話會議後發生的事件或情況的義務。

Also during today's call, the company may discuss certain non-GAAP measures as defined by SEC Regulation G. The GAAP financial measures most directly comparable to each non-GAAP financial measure discussed and the reconciliation of the differences between each non-GAAP financial measure and the comparable GAAP financial measure can be found on the company's website at investors.caesars.com by selecting the press release regarding the company's 2023 3rd quarter financial results.

此外，在今天的電話會議上，公司可能會討論SEC G 條例所定義的某些非GAAP 衡量標準。GAAP 財務衡量標準與所討論的每項非GAAP 財務衡量標準最直接可比，以及每項非GAAP財務衡量標準與透過​​選擇有關公司 2023 年第三季財務業績的新聞稿，可以在公司網站 Investors.caesars.com 上找到可比較的 GAAP 財務指標。

With the disclaimer out of the way, I will now turn the call over to Anthony.

免責聲明結束後，我現在將把電話轉給安東尼。

Thank you, Brian, and good afternoon to everyone on the call.

謝謝你，布萊恩，祝所有參加電話會議的人下午好。

We delivered the strongest consolidated adjusted EBITDA quarter in the history of the company led by a new all-time quarterly adjusted EBITDA record in our regional markets, profitability in our digital segment and continued strength in our Las Vegas segment. All 3 segments grew adjusted EBITDA year-over-year.

我們實現了公司歷史上最強勁的綜合調整後 EBITDA 季度，這得益於我們區域市場的新的季度調整 EBITDA 記錄、數位業務的盈利能力以及拉斯維加斯業務的持續強勢。所有三個部門的調整後 EBITDA 均較去年同期成長。

Starting with our Las Vegas segment. Demand trends remained healthy during the third quarter, with occupancy increasing to 96.6% versus 93.6% in the prior year. Total Las Vegas segment revenues were up 4% driven by higher occupancy and higher ADRs, which drove record cash hotel revenues, record gaming revenues and record food and beverage revenues. Excluding real rent payments, our Las Vegas segment generated $494 million of adjusted EBITDA with a margin of 44%. During the quarter, our group segment also delivered an all-time Q3 record for adjusted EBITDA.

從我們的拉斯維加斯部分開始。第三季需求趨勢保持健康，入住率上升至 96.6%，去年同期為 93.6%。由於入住率上升和平均房價上升，拉斯維加斯分部總收入增長了 4%，這推動了創紀錄的酒店現金收入、創紀錄的博彩收入以及創紀錄的食品和飲料收入。不包括實際租金支付，我們的拉斯維加斯部門調整後 EBITDA 為 4.94 億美元，利潤率為 44%。本季度，我們集團部門的第三季調整後 EBITDA 也創歷史新高。

As we look to the remainder of the year, Las Vegas continues to benefit from strong leisure and casino guest demand, a robust events calendar and the continued strength of the group and convention segment. We're looking forward to the inaugural F1 race in November, the culmination of significant planning and infrastructure improvements executed by the city in order to deliver a great event. Heading into '24, we are also excited for Las Vegas to host the Super Bowl in February, in addition to many other new and exciting events planned throughout the year. Las Vegas continues to benefit from one of the strongest event calendars in the United States.

展望今年剩餘時間，拉斯維加斯將繼續受益於強勁的休閒和賭場客人需求、強勁的活動日曆以及團體和會議領域的持續強勢。我們期待 11 月舉行的首屆 F1 比賽，這是該市為舉辦一場盛大賽事而實施的重大規劃和基礎設施改進的頂峰。進入 24 世紀，我們還很高興拉斯維加斯能夠在 2 月舉辦超級盃比賽，此外全年還計劃舉辦許多其他令人興奮的新活動。拉斯維加斯繼續受益於美國最強大的活動日曆之一。

In our regional segment, revenues were up 2% versus last year and adjusted EBITDA grew to $575 million, the best regional quarter on record. Stable guest demand, combined with excellent performance from our completed capital projects and newly opened facilities, helped to offset competitive pressures in a few of our markets. Our regional segment is benefiting from a diversified portfolio across the United States.

在我們的區域部門，營收比去年成長 2%，調整後 EBITDA 成長至 5.75 億美元，這是有史以​​來最好的區域季度。穩定的賓客需求，加上我們已完成的資本項目和新開幕設施的出色表現，有助於抵消我們一些市場的競爭壓力。我們的區域部門受益於美國各地的多元化投資組合。

Turning to our capital projects. We are anticipating a Q4 opening for our Harrah's Hoosier Park property expansion, and we expect to have the new Versailles Tower rooms in Vegas online by the end of the year. 2024 is a busy year, and we expect to complete the permanent facilities in Danville, Virginia and Columbus, Nebraska as well as the new hotel tower and completely remodeled Caesars New Orleans project.

轉向我們的資本項目。我們預計哈拉斯胡西爾公園 (Harrah's Hoosier Park) 物業擴建項目將於第四季度開業，並預計在年底前在維加斯推出新的凡爾賽塔客房。 2024年是忙碌的一年，我們預計將完成弗吉尼亞州丹維爾和內布拉斯加州哥倫布的永久設施以及新酒店塔樓和徹底改建的凱撒新奧爾良項目。

We are looking forward to a strong finish to 2023. Consumer demand remains strong, and our capital projects are winding down. We will continue to remain focused on operating cost efficiencies, harvesting returns on project capital and driving long-term EBITDA growth.

我們期待 2023 年有一個強勁的結局。消費者需求仍然強勁，我們的資本項目正在逐步結束。我們將繼續專注於營運成本效率、收穫專案資本回報並推動長期 EBITDA 成長。

I want to thank all of our team members for their hard work. Our success is a direct result of the dedication of our team members and their commitment to delivering exceptional guest experiences every day.

我要感謝我們所有團隊成員的辛勤工作。我們的成功是我們團隊成員的奉獻精神以及他們致力於每天提供卓越賓客體驗的直接結果。

With that, I'll now turn the call over to Eric for some insights on the second quarter in our digital segment.

現在，我將把電話轉給艾瑞克，以獲取有關我們數位部門第二季的一些見解。

Thanks, Anthony. During the third quarter, we delivered another positive adjusted EBITDA result and a significant improvement versus the same quarter last year. Caesars Digital generated $2 million of adjusted EBITDA versus a $38 million EBITDA loss last year, demonstrating significant and continued year-over-year flow-through improvements. Q2 represented a second consecutive quarter of EBITDA profitability in our Digital segment and makes us positive now on a trailing 12-month basis as well.

謝謝，安東尼。第三季度，我們再次實現了調整後的 EBITDA 正值，與去年同期相比有了顯著改善。 Caesars Digital 的調整後 EBITDA 為 200 萬美元，而去年 EBITDA 虧損為 3,800 萬美元，這表明流量比去年同期持續顯著改善。第二季代表了我們數位部門連續第二季的 EBITDA 獲利能力，這也讓我們在過去 12 個月的基礎上也保持樂觀。

During the quarter, online sports betting handle increased 14% and iCasino handle improved 38%. Revenues were negatively impacted by lower year-over-year hold in both our online sports betting and iCasino segments, which we believe to be temporary.

本季度，線上運動博彩手把成長了 14%，iCasino 手把成長了 38%。我們的線上體育博彩和 iCasino 業務的同比持有量下降對收入產生了負面影響，我們認為這是暫時的。

We continue to remain balanced with our promotional spend during the quarter with a focus on investing in our best customers, resulting in an overall promotional spend being among the lowest in the industry.

本季我們繼續保持促銷支出平衡，重點投資於我們最好的客戶，從而使整體促銷支出處於行業最低水平。

During the quarter, we delivered our new stand-alone iCasino app, Caesars Palace Online. The product features enhanced game content and functionality in addition to facilitating segmented marketing. The results of which drove monthly GGR and NGR in its first full month of operation to a record. We anticipate realizing increasingly positive results in the months ahead.

在本季度，我們推出了新的獨立 iCasino 應用程式 Caesars Palace Online。該產品除了促進細分行銷之外，還增強了遊戲內容和功能。其結果使得其營運第一個完整月的月 GGR 和 NGR 創下歷史新高。我們預計在未來幾個月將取得越來越積極的成果。

Turning to online sports betting. We launched several new product features for football, including SGPs for NCAA, a live streaming product for nationally broadcast NFL games, a bet with reward credits feature and improved payment options.

轉向線上體育博彩。我們推出了多項橄欖球新產品功能，包括 NCAA 的 SGP、全國轉播 NFL 比賽的直播產品、獎勵積分投注功能以及改進的支付選項。

As we head into 2024, we believe that our product in both sports betting and iCasino are significantly improved from prior periods and quite competitive. We have an exciting and robust technology plan, which will have a focus on retention enhancements. I will preview these with you over the coming calls. But initially, we plan to continue to roll out our proprietary TAM, which will enable a shared wallet, and to improve the customer experience through enhanced application stability, ease of use and app speed. We now offer sports betting in 30 North American jurisdictions, 24 of which offer mobile wagering. We also operate iCasino in 6 jurisdictions.

進入 2024 年，我們相信我們在體育博彩和 iCasino 方面的產品較之前都有顯著改進，並且具有相當的競爭力。我們有一個令人興奮且強大的技術計劃，該計劃將重點關注增強保留率。我將在接下來的電話中與您一起預覽這些內容。但最初，我們計劃繼續推出我們專有的 TAM，這將支援共享錢包，並透過增強應用程式穩定性、易用性和應用程式速度來改善客戶體驗。我們現在在 30 個北美司法管轄區提供體育博彩，其中 24 個司法管轄區提供行動投注。我們也在 6 個司法管轄區經營 iCasino。

I'll now pass the call back to Bret for additional comments.

我現在將把電話轉回布雷特以徵求更多意見。

Thanks, Eric. Year-to-date, we've applied over $700 million of cash flow to debt reduction and the acquisition of the remaining equity interest in our Baltimore asset. Our leverage continues to reduce as we repay debt and grow EBITDA, with our total net leverage under our bank credit facility declining to 3.9x as of September 30, resulting in a 25 bps reduction in our Term Loan A and revolver spreads to 150 bps over SOFR. Cash CapEx, excluding Atlantic City and our joint venture project spend, is expected to land at just over $800 million for 2023.

謝謝，埃里克。今年迄今為止，我們已將超過 7 億美元的現金流用於減少債務和收購巴爾的摩資產的剩餘股權。隨著我們償還債務和成長EBITDA，我們的槓桿率持續降低，截至9 月30 日，我們的銀行信貸額度下的總淨槓桿率下降至3.9 倍，導致我們的定期貸款A 減少25 個基點，循環利差至150 個基點SOFR。不包括大西洋城和我們的合資項目支出，預計 2023 年現金資本支出將略高於 8 億美元。

We're looking forward to posting a strong fourth quarter heading into 2024. Over to Tom.

我們期待在 2024 年之前發布強勁的第四季度業績。接下來是 Tom。

Thanks, Bret. As the group has detailed, it was an extremely strong quarter for us, all-time record for the company.

謝謝，布雷特。正如該集團所詳述的那樣，這對我們來說是一個極其強勁的季度，創下了公司的歷史記錄。

Those of you who've been on calls, going back for quite some time, this should be a familiar story for you. Vegas remains quite strong in terms of headwinds in Vegas in the quarter. Know that we are accruing for the anticipated expenses that will come with the new union contract, which I will touch on a little bit more momentarily.

對於那些已經接電話、回去很久的人來說，這對你們來說應該是一個熟悉的故事。就本季維加斯的不利因素而言，維加斯仍然相當強勁。要知道，我們正在累積新工會合約帶來的預期費用，我稍後會稍微談一下。

We had Rio left the system on October 2, so kind of it went out the door in terms of how it was performing in the third quarter. We had more significant disruption in the Versailles Tower than we anticipated. We thought we were going to keep a fair amount of it active. But as you open the walls of a building that is as dated as that particular building, you find all sorts of surprises. We took the whole tower out of service.

我們在 10 月 2 日讓 Rio 離開了系統，所以就第三季的表現而言，它已經被淘汰了。凡爾賽塔受到的破壞比我們預期的要嚴重。我們認為我們將保持相當數量的活躍。但當你打開一棟與那棟建築一樣古老的建築的牆壁時，你會發現各種各樣的驚喜。我們讓整個塔停止服務。

So fewer rooms, labor cost headwinds, Rio as a drag, we still beat year-over-year. The slight margin reduction you see is related to labor costs. As Rio comes off-line October 2, you should expect us to recover that margin percentage, if not more going forward.

因此，儘管房間減少、勞動成本不利、裡約熱內盧成為拖累，我們仍然比去年同期成長。您看到的利潤率略有下降與勞動成本有關。隨著 Rio 於 10 月 2 日下線，您應該預期我們將恢復該利潤率，甚至未來會更多。

I know there will be questions on the union contract. We are in active dialogue with the unions. I'm involved with the union. I'm involved personally in the discussions. I'm optimistic we will reach a solution. You've heard me say before we have done quite well as a company post-merger, post-pandemic. Our employees should and will participate in that. So you should expect that when we reach agreement on the contract, it's going to be the largest increase that our employees have seen in the 4 decades since we started interacting with the Culinary Union. So that's well deserved. It's anticipated in our business model. And as I said, everybody should be participating in the results that we've been delivering.

我知道會有人對工會合約有疑問。我們正在與工會積極對話。我參與了工會。我親自參與了討論。我很樂觀我們會達成解決方案。你曾經聽我說過，我們作為一家公司在合併後、疫情後做得很好。我們的員工應該而且將會參與其中。因此，您應該預料到，當我們就合約達成協議時，這將是我們開始與烹飪聯盟互動以來 4 年來員工人數增幅最大的一次。所以這是當之無愧的。這是我們的商業模式所預期的。正如我所說，每個人都應該參與我們所取得的成果。

In terms of regional, I know that a lot of you are expecting fairly dramatic moves in terms of what's happening with the customer, have been for many, many months, if not quarters, by this point. That's not what we're seeing. We're seeing stability in the customer. We're seeing weakness in properties that have competitive openings that we've named before, Tunica, Chicago market being chief among them. If you want to hang your hat on something that feels soft, Atlantic City feels soft, but that's not particularly news at this point. The returns from our projects that have come online, Lake Charles, Virginia, Horseshoe, Annapolis have been quite strong and have offset the weakness in the properties that are competitively impacted. And as you saw, we set an all-time quarterly record for EBITDA and margin was stable. So we feel very good about regional.

就區域而言，我知道你們中的很多人都在期待客戶發生的事情會發生相當大的變化，到目前為止，已經有很多很多個月了，如果不是幾個季度的話。這不是我們所看到的。我們看到客戶的穩定性。我們看到我們之前提到的具有競爭性空缺的房產表現疲軟，芝加哥圖尼卡市場是其中最主要的。如果你想把帽子掛在感覺柔軟的東西上，大西洋城感覺很柔軟，但這一點並不是特別新聞。我們已上線的查爾斯湖、維吉尼亞州、馬蹄鐵、安納波利斯等項目的回報相當強勁，抵消了受競爭影響的房產的疲軟表現。正如您所看到的，我們的 EBITDA 創下了歷史季度記錄，並且利潤率保持穩定。所以我們對區域性感覺非常好。

I would point to -- moving forward, New Orleans is in the midst of the significant construction project that we've got going on there. It's particularly disrupted now and for the next quarter or 2, basically 1/3 of the floor, the casino floor is tore up on any given day as we do the heavy work at that level. We topped off the hotel tower. We're on target to open that expansion completely, well in advance of Super Bowl of '25. And we also have, obviously, F1 coming to Vegas, feel very, very good, and no change in what we're expecting in terms of lift in the quarter in the neighborhood of 5%, which is what I told you a year ago, we'd expect to deliver that. At the high end, the amount of credit play that we have in the market that week will exceed New Year's Eve. So it's an extraordinary event. From a high-end perspective, Super Bowl and Vegas is filling in the same way, extremely strong, high end as well. So we feel very good about those events.

我想指出的是，展望未來，新奧爾良正處於我們正在進行的重大建設項目之中。現在尤其受到干擾，在接下來的四分之一或兩個季度，基本上是 1/3 的樓層，賭場樓層在任何一天都會被撕毀，因為我們在該級別進行繁重的工作。我們登上了酒店塔樓。我們的目標是在 25 年超級盃比賽之前完全開放該擴充包。顯然，F1 來到維加斯，感覺非常非常好，我們對本季 5% 左右的成長的預期沒有變化，這是我一年前告訴你們的，我們希望能夠實現這一點。在高端，那週市場上的信貸活動量將超過除夕夜。所以這是一個非同尋常的事件。從高端的角度來看，超級盃和維加斯的填充方式是一樣的，非常強勁，而且高端。所以我們對這些事件感覺非常好。

Digital, Eric touched on, our hold continues to grow in excess of 30%. You know that that's based on the way we've been operating. That's not promotional-driven. That's actual handle growth. We got dinged on hold in the quarter but still delivered a positive EBITDA quarter. We're particularly pleased with the way the fourth quarter has begun in digital. Excited about the momentum that we've got in online casino now that we've launched Caesars Palace Online and what we'll be able to deliver in the coming quarters.

Eric 談到數位化，我們的持有量持續成長超過 30%。您知道，這是基於我們一直以來的運作方式。這不是促銷驅動的。這就是實際的手柄增長。我們在本季陷入停滯，但仍實現了正的 EBITDA 季度。我們對第四季度在數位領域的開始方式感到特別滿意。我們對線上賭場的勢頭感到興奮，因為我們已經推出了凱撒宮在線，以及我們將在未來幾個季度提供的服務。

As we have discussed, we are nearing the end of a significant capital cycle. So as New Orleans winds down, you should expect our project -- CapEx budget to come down. Our EBITDA is growing in both brick-and-mortar and digital. So our free cash flow is growing. We continue to use our free cash flow to pay down debt and reduce leverage. That's what you should expect until we see leverage in the 4x or below least adjusted areas.

正如我們所討論的，我們正接近一個重要資本週期的結束。因此，隨著新奧爾良的結束，您應該預期我們的專案—資本支出預算將會下降。我們的 EBITDA 在實體和數位領域都在成長。所以我們的自由現金流正在成長。我們繼續利用自由現金流來償還債務並降低槓桿。這就是您應該期待的情況，直到我們看到槓桿率處於 4 倍或以下的最小調整區域。

So we feel very, very good about how the business is performing, how it's coming together. Looking forward, we feel very good about what we see in front of us. We see, of course, the volatility that you see in share prices in the space, not just us. It's not reflective of what's going on in the business. And we're just going to keep delivering numbers until that volatility subsides. And we expect the market to recognize the value in our equity.

因此，我們對業務的表現和整合感到非常非常滿意。展望未來，我們對眼前所看到的感覺非常好。當然，我們看到了該領域股價的波動，而不僅僅是我們。它不反映業務中正在發生的事情。我們將繼續提供數據，直到波動性消退。我們希望市場能夠認識到我們股權的價值。

And with that, I'll open it up for questions.

接下來，我將開放提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Carlo Santarelli with Deutsche Bank.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Carlo Santarelli。

Anthony, I believe you were talking about some of the event calendar for 2024 as it pertained to Las Vegas. I was wondering if you could perhaps provide kind of an update on where you guys are in terms of group pace and how you're thinking about kind of the in the year, for the year experience this year relative to what you could perhaps see next year.

安東尼，我相信您正在談論 2024 年與拉斯維加斯有關的一些活動日曆。我想知道您是否可以提供有關您在團隊節奏方面的最新情況，以及您如何思考今年的情況，今年的經歷相對於您明年可能會看到的情況年。

Yes. Thanks, Carlo. Group pace, as we said, set a record in this quarter. We see an extremely positive calendar going into getting better by the day. I think mix is around 15% to 16% this year, should pace up to about high teens next year.

是的。謝謝，卡洛。正如我們所說，集團步伐在本季度創下了紀錄。我們看到非常積極的日曆正在一天天變得更好。我認為今年的比例約為 15% 至 16%，明年應該會達到十幾歲左右。

Perfect. And then, obviously, you guys benefited from some of the favorable baccarat results in the market in the 3Q. I was just wondering, I mean, we've seen a pretty healthy stretch here of materially higher baccarat holds. Is there anything that your folks are noticing just in terms of the changing dynamics that we seem to be seeing coming out of at least the Nevada published data as it pertains to baccarat?

完美的。然後，顯然，你們從第三季市場上一些有利的百家樂結果中受益。我只是想知道，我的意思是，我們在這裡看到了相當健康的百家樂持有量。您的朋友是否注意到，我們似乎至少從內華達州發布的與百家樂相關的數據中看到了動態變化？

No, we had a really good quarter in baccarat last quarter, Q2. Q3 normalized for us. We're seeing a really strong return of the international customer, a diversified return of the international customer, and we think that will continue to grow this quarter with F1. A lot of interest in international for both F1 and the Super Bowl. And then anticipating a great New Year's and Chinese New Year's for next year for international.

不，我們在上個季度（第二季）的百家樂季度表現非常出色。第三季對我們來說已經正常化了。我們看到國際客戶的強勁回報，國際客戶的多元化回報，我們認為本季 F1 的回報將持續成長。人們對 F1 和超級盃國際賽事都很感興趣。然後期待明年的國際新年和農曆新年。

Carlo, on a consolidated basis for the quarter, hold didn't have a material impact one way or another for us.

在本季的綜合基礎上，卡洛持有並沒有對我們產生任​​何實質影響。

Yes. No, no. No, I was just referring to the baccarat piece specifically and more of the market data that you guys said.

是的。不，不。不，我只是特指百家樂棋子以及你們所說的更多市場數據。

Our next question comes from Joe Greff with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的喬·格雷夫。

I want to lead off with a question for Eric here. Obviously, a significant increase in iGaming handle, up 38% year-over-year. And that's great. Can you talk about the path for growth from here? What are some of the drivers to continue that accelerating momentum, particularly when you think about other brands or reskinned apps and how that could drive growth there, Eric.

我想先向艾瑞克提出一個問題。顯然，iGaming 手把大幅成長，年增 38%。那太好了。您能談談接下來的成長之路嗎？艾瑞克，繼續這種加速勢頭的驅動因素是什麼，特別是當你考慮其他品牌或重新設計的應用程式以及這將如何推動那裡的成長時。

Yes, sure. Thanks, Joe. Yes, we feel like from a volume perspective, we had a very solid quarter on both sports and iCasino, up 38%. And keep in mind, during the quarter, we didn't have our app with the exception of basically for 1 month as we were putting it in for the first 2 months of the quarter. So again, most of the upside from the new app is going to accrue in the fourth quarter and into next year.

是的，當然。謝謝，喬。是的，我們覺得從交易量的角度來看，我們在體育和 iCasino 方面都有一個非常強勁的季度，成長了 38%。請記住，在本季度中，我們沒有使用我們的應用程序，除了基本上 1 個月的時間，因為我們是在本季度的前 2 個月放置它的。同樣，新應用程式的大部分優勢將在第四季度和明年體現。

We feel that there's a lot of opportunity to improve the integration of the various game vendors that will give us more insight into the actual workings of the game and see what customers are playing and where the spins are. We also have an opportunity to improve our CRM. As we mentioned, during prior calls up to about a couple of months ago, we weren't able to do segmented marketing. And so now with our new app and with some of the new technology, we feel like that's going to really benefit us heading into next year.

我們認為有很多機會來改善各個遊戲供應商的整合，這將使我們更深入地了解遊戲的實際運作，並了解客戶在玩什麼遊戲以及旋轉在哪裡。我們還有機會改進我們的 CRM。正如我們所提到的，在大約幾個月前的之前的電話會議中，我們無法進行分段行銷。因此，現在有了我們的新應用程式和一些新技術，我們覺得這將使我們在明年真正受益。

And then to your point, we are exploring the possibilities of adding another skin to the portfolio as there are a number of states where we have additional licenses that we've reserved and would plan to potentially roll that out later in 2024. So all of those things contributing to the overall improvement. But what I would say is that the thesis of the new iCasino app is following exactly the script. We're seeing a much higher percentage of slot players which, if you recall, on our prior app, it was heavily table focused. And then as a result, we're seeing improved hold in that particular app, which we think over time will ultimately create a whole lot more value for us.

然後就您的觀點而言，我們正在探索在產品組合中添加另一種皮膚的可能性，因為我們在許多州保留了額外的許可證，併計劃在 2024 年晚些時候推出該許可證。這些事情有助於整體改善。但我想說的是，新 iCasino 應用程式的主題完全遵循腳本。我們看到老虎機玩家的比例要高得多，如果您還記得的話，在我們之前的應用程式中，它主要集中在桌面上。結果，我們看到該特定應用程式的保留率有所提高，我們認為隨著時間的推移，這最終將為我們創造更多的價值。

Great. And then a question for you, going back to Las Vegas in the third quarter, casino revenue flat year-over-year. Food and beverage, hotel and other, all up to varying degrees, nicely up year-over-year. Table game dropped. It was down 6%. Was there anything specific to there, Anthony or Tom, that you would call out? In the Q, you do reference that the Las Vegas segment had faced some challenges related to construction disruption and road work on The Strip. Obviously, it didn't impact food and beverage and hotel. To what extent was that a driver?

偉大的。然後問你一個問題，回到拉斯維加斯第三季度，賭場收入比去年同期持平。餐飲、旅館等都有不同程度的上漲，年比都有不錯的上漲。桌上遊戲掉落。下降了 6%。安東尼或湯姆，你有什麼特別需要被指出的嗎？在問題中，您確實提到拉斯維加斯部分面臨著與拉斯維加斯大道上的施工中斷和道路施工相關的一些挑戰。顯然，它沒有影響餐飲和酒店。那人在多大程度上是個司機？

I mean you could name a lot of things that impact that, but a big impact on casino revenue is shift in mix out of your database or tour and travel into group business. Those customers spend more money outside of the casino floor than those that they're replacing. So you're going to see some of that. You wouldn't really -- and obviously, table games drop, particularly in Caesars Palace where we are today, is dependent on when your big customers come and visit. And so there's -- I don't want to say seasonality, but there's volatility in that number based on when those customers show up.

我的意思是，你可以舉出很多影響這一點的因素，但對賭場收入的重大影響是將你的資料庫或旅遊和旅行的組合轉變為團體業務。這些顧客在賭場外花的錢比他們要取代的顧客還要多。所以你會看到其中的一些。你不會真的 - 顯然，桌面遊戲的下降，特別是在我們今天所在的凱撒宮，取決於你的大客戶何時來訪。所以，我不想說季節性，但這個數字會根據這些客戶出現的時間而波動。

Great. And then just related to Las Vegas, Tom, do you think you benefited at all from a competitor's cybersecurity issue, which may have hurt them -- or which definitely hurt them based on their disclosures. Did you have an outsized benefit that you would call out?

偉大的。然後，關於拉斯維加斯，湯姆，你認為你從競爭對手的網路安全問題中獲益了嗎？這可能傷害了他們——或者根據他們的披露，這肯定傷害了他們。您是否有過值得稱讚的巨大好處？

No, I wouldn't call out a benefit. I would tell you, one thing I know for certain after this quarter is nobody benefits from a cybersecurity incident.

不，我不會說有什麼好處。我想告訴你，本季之後我確信的一件事是沒有人從網路安全事件中受益。

Our next question comes from Dan Politzer with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Dan Politzer。

First, this is maybe for Tom or Anthony, as you think about next year and we're kind of rounding out this year here, how do you think about the growth in the segment -- between the segments as it relates to Las Vegas and regionals? Obviously, Tom, you mentioned in Las Vegas, you're seeing the Versailles Tower maybe shifted a little bit later than anticipated. And then in the regional segment, you have new properties ramping but also some new competition. So any high-level thoughts preliminarily as we think about the growth path here next year?

首先，這可能是針對湯姆或安東尼的，當你考慮明年時，我們在這裡對今年進行了總結，你如何看待該細分市場的成長——與拉斯維加斯相關的細分市場和地區性的？顯然，湯姆，你在拉斯維加斯提到過，你看到凡爾賽塔的移動可能比預期晚了一點。然後在區域市場，新的物業不斷湧現，但也出現了一些新的競爭。那麼，當我們考慮明年的成長路徑時，有什麼初步的高層想法嗎？

Yes. So I'd say on the Versailles Tower, timing really hasn't changed. What changed is we had to take far more rooms out of service than we anticipated before we started opening up walls. We'll still, as Anthony said, be getting rooms back before the end of the year. We think that's a driver in Las Vegas. I would be -- we're in the middle of budgeting right now. And I would say, if you're budgeting modest growth in both Vegas and regional and significant growth in digital, you're consistent with what we're thinking.

是的。所以我想說，在凡爾賽塔上，時機確實沒有改變。改變的是，在我們開始拆牆之前，我們不得不停止使用的房間數量比我們預期的要多得多。正如安東尼所說，我們仍然會在年底前收回房間。我們認為那是拉斯維加斯的司機。我會——我們現在正在製定預算。我想說，如果你的預算是維加斯和區域性的適度增長以及數位化的顯著增長，那麼你的想法與我們的想法是一致的。

Got it. And then just pivoting to digital a bit, I mean, this is a business where I think it seems like, from an operating expense perspective, it looks like you've really reached scale there. As you think about the path forward here, are there any rules of thumb or high-level ways to think about the flow-through just as it looks like you've turned the corner in terms of the cost structure?

知道了。然後稍微轉向數位化，我的意思是，我認為從營運費用的角度來看，這是一項業務，看起來您確實已經達到了規模。當您思考這裡的前進道路時，是否有任何經驗法則或高級方法來考慮流程，就像您在成本結構方面似乎已經扭轉了局面一樣？

Yes. I'm happy to give you a few thoughts. One of the things that I think we're particularly proud of over the last few quarters is that we've been able to hold our promotional spending constant and even down. This quarter, it was down 25 basis points versus prior year. And so it's staying in that range that we've kind of given you for guidance of the 1% to 1.25% of volume. And so I think that's one thing to help build the models.

是的。我很高興給你一些想法。我認為過去幾季我們特別自豪的一件事是我們能夠保持促銷支出不變甚至下降。本季較去年同期下降 25 個基點。因此，它保持在我們為您提供的 1% 至 1.25% 成交量指導範圍內。所以我認為這是幫助建立模型的一件事。

If you look at our tax rate, along with the payments processing fees and a few other variable costs that we have, using 50% or thereabouts in terms of incremental flow-through is a good number to use. I think you're probably right about thinking we're kind of essentially at that point where we've covered all of our fixed costs now. And the marketing spend is still coming down. We were down about $50 million year-over-year this quarter versus same quarter last year. And that will start to kind of stabilize as we've pulled a lot of it out, with the exception of some of the league and other longer-term commitments coming out over the next year. But from a variable perspective, I would think you could take every incremental dollar and flow 50% through at this point.

如果您查看我們的稅率、支付處理費和我們的其他一些可變成本，就增量流通而言，使用 50% 或左右的數字是一個不錯的數字。我認為你的想法可能是對的，我們基本上已經涵蓋了所有固定成本。而且行銷支出仍在下降。與去年同期相比，本季我們的營收年減了約 5,000 萬美元。隨著我們已經取消了許多承諾，除了明年將推出的一些聯盟和其他長期承諾之外，這種情況將開始趨於穩定。但從不同的角度來看，我認為此時你可以將每一增量資金流轉至 50%。

Our next question comes from Steven Wieczynski with Stifel.

我們的下一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Steven Wieczynski。

So Tom, as we think about 2024 in Vegas, maybe from a cost perspective, you're obviously going to have some labor pressure heading into next year, depending on how the labor negotiations end up. But as we think about flow-through for 2024, in that market, anything we should be thinking about on the positive side that could potentially offset some of that wage inflation?

湯姆，當我們在維加斯考慮 2024 年時，也許從成本角度來看，進入明年顯然會面臨一些勞動力壓力，這取決於勞資談判的結果。但當我們考慮 2024 年的流量時，在該市場中，我們應該考慮哪些積極的方面可能會抵消部分工資上漲？

Yes. I mean you've got continued shift into group business, which is higher margin for us. So if you look at Caesars, it was historically running at 14% or so, we're up a couple of points above that. We should be up a couple more points next year. That brings more banquet revenue, that brings higher room rate, which has very high flow-through. We've got Versailles Tower coming online as we've discussed. We'd expect that that's 15%, 20% ROI at a minimum on a $100 million project. So we have wind at our sails in addition to -- more than offsetting what you're noting on the cost side. And you've seen that even in third quarter, which had a number of headwinds, and we still posted growth in a quarter that's not particularly strong from a group perspective.

是的。我的意思是，你們已經繼續轉向集團業務，這對我們來說利潤率更高。因此，如果你看看凱撒，它的歷史運行率約為 14% 左右，我們比這個數字高出幾個百分點。明年我們應該會再提高幾分。這就帶來了更多的宴會收入，帶來了更高的房價，流量非常高。正如我們所討論的，凡爾賽塔已經上線。我們預期對於 1 億美元的項目，投資報酬率至少為 15%、20%。因此，我們的順風順水不僅抵消了您在成本方面注意到的內容。您已經看到，即使在存在許多不利因素的第三季度，我們仍然公佈了從集團角度來看並不是特別強勁的季度增長。

Okay. Got you. And then, Tom, in the past -- or I mean, actually as early as last quarter, you've laid out a path to $5 billion EBITDA by 2025. I'm just wondering, as you sit here today, is there anything out there that you're seeing that would impede you guys from getting somewhere around that target? And I'm guessing you're going to give me a one-word answer of no, but just wanted to check back in and kind of see how you're feeling about that target today.

好的。明白你了。然後，湯姆，在過去，或者我的意思是，實際上早在上個季度，您就已經規劃了到2025 年實現50 億美元EBITDA 的道路。我只是想知道，當您今天坐在這裡時，有什麼嗎？您認為這會阻礙你們實現該目標嗎？我猜你會給我一個簡單的回答：“不”，但只是想回來看看你今天對這個目標的感覺如何。

Yes, Steve, I told you that I think there's $0.5 billion of opportunity in brick-and-mortar, $0.5 billion of opportunity in digital, and we still see that in front of us.

是的，史蒂夫，我告訴過你，我認為實體領域有 5 億美元的機會，數位領域有 5 億美元的機會，而且我們仍然看到這些機會就在我們面前。

Our next question comes from Shaun Kelley with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的肖恩凱利。

Tom, I feel like one of the themes from the kind of quarter that has rolled out so far is just broader operating expense inflation. You obviously -- I mean, based on just what we saw out of the regional margins alone, it seemed like you're able to find offsets to be able to kind of counteract that. But could you just outline a little bit more broadly, maybe kind of what expense pressures you're seeing in the business? And do you think you've got the ability kind of going forward to be able to offset that and hold or get close to at least holding margins across the regional segments?

湯姆，我覺得迄今為止推出的季度的主題之一是更廣泛的營運費用通膨。顯然，我的意思是，僅根據我們從區域利潤中看到的情況，似乎您能夠找到抵消措施來抵消這種影響。但您能否更廣泛地概述一下您在業務中看到的費用壓力？您是否認為您有能力繼續前進，以抵消這一影響並保持或至少接近保持跨區域細分市場的利潤率？

Yes, Shaun. I mean, I think you've seen it for quite some time. You saw it this quarter. We've been good at this for a very long time. This is -- kind of how we built the business was being as good as we could be at blocking and tackling. And recall that we're still -- it seems like it's been forever, but it's been 3 years since we closed the merger. We're constantly continuing to find new opportunity to squeeze cash flow out of the business. The cost pressures that you're hearing from us and others in terms of labor and inflation-related costs, those aren't new. We've been dealing with those kind of since we got out of the pandemic. And we have said all along that we think our margins are -- you shouldn't expect significant degradation in margin, and you haven't seen that to date. So that's what I'd expect going forward.

是的，肖恩。我的意思是，我想你已經看到它很長一段時間了。你這個季度就看到了。我們在這方面已經擅長很久了。這就是我們建立業務的方式，就是盡我們所能地做好攔截和應對工作。回想一下，我們仍然——看起來好像已經永遠了，但距離我們完成合併已經過去了 3 年。我們不斷尋找新的機會來擠壓業務的現金流。您從我們和其他人那裡聽到的勞動力和通貨膨脹相關成本的成本壓力並不新鮮。自從疫情結束以來，我們一直在處理這類問題。我們一直說，我們認為我們的利潤率是——你不應該期望利潤率會大幅下降，而且到目前為止你還沒有看到這一點。這就是我對未來的期望。

And then, maybe pivoting to Las Vegas, and I appreciate the comments that you make, especially given the sensitivity around the union side. Just kind of anything further you could provide to us around timing as we kind of do get ever closer to Formula 1? And then just are -- the accruals that I believe you're already taking in the quarter, are those in line with your comment about the kind of step function in costs that you expect that contract to ultimately yield?

然後，也許轉向拉斯維加斯，我很欣賞你發表的評論，特別是考慮到工會方面的敏感性。隨著我們越來越接近一級方程式賽車，您還可以向我們提供有關時間安排的任何進一步資訊嗎？然後就是——我相信您在本季度已經計入的應計費用，是否符合您對合約最終產生的成本階梯函數的評論？

Yes. You should expect that we're accruing at a level that we think is consistent with where the contract will shake out. So it's consistent with our view that our employees deserve what they're going to get here, and we intend to provide. In terms of timing, we're in active dialogue. I don't want to be delivering a play-by-play. This is a 5-year contract. So while it seems like, "Gee, why don't you just get it done next week," these are complex contracts that cover a long period of time, and we're going to do the work with the union to make sure that we do it right for all parties. And I can't tell you if that means it's going to happen next week, a couple of weeks from now or a month from now. But we are in dialogue constantly with the union and have further meetings this week.

是的。您應該預料到，我們的累積水準與合約的調整水準一致。因此，這與我們的觀點是一致的，即我們的員工應得的，而我們也打算提供這些。在時間安排上，我們正​​在積極對話。我不想逐一比賽。這是一份為期5年的合約。因此，雖然看起來像是“哎呀，你為什麼不下週就把它完成呢”，這些都是複雜的合同，涵蓋很長一段時間，我們將與工會一起工作，以確保我們為所有各方做正確的事。我無法告訴你這是否意味著它會在下週、幾週後或一個月後發生。但我們一直在與工會進行對話，並在本週舉行進一步的會議。

Our next question comes from Brandt Montour with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的布蘭特·蒙圖爾。

Congratulations on the strong results. Tom, your comment on the regional consumer, loud and clear that it's stable. Obviously, people are a little bit nervous on this particular segment. I was wondering if you could just go a cut deeper on what you're seeing and maybe talk about sort of maybe the month-to-month throughout the quarter or spend per visit trends, utilization of loyalty rewards across your system? Anything that I can kind of put a finer point on that?

祝賀取得了優異的成績。湯姆，您對區域消費者的評論響亮而明確，表明它是穩定的。顯然，人們對這個特定的部分有點緊張。我想知道您是否可以更深入地了解您所看到的內容，也許可以談談整個季度的逐月情況或每次訪問的支出趨勢，整個系統中忠誠度獎勵的利用情況？我可以對此提出更具體的觀點嗎？

Yes. So Brandt, I'd say I don't have anything intelligent to say about month-to-month. There's not a particular month that stood out for us. What we are seeing is, in markets that are not impacted by new competition, save for Atlantic City, you're seeing demand kind of equal to last year to, let's call it, plus or minus 2%, if you're looking across the whole portfolio, something that averages to a little bit of growth across those assets from a revenue standpoint.

是的。所以布蘭特，我想說我對每個月的情況沒有什麼明智的說法。沒有哪個月份對我們來說特別突出。我們看到的是，在不受新競爭影響的市場中，除了大西洋城，你會看到需求與去年持平，我們可以稱之為正負 2%，如果你看看的話整個投資組合，從收入的角度來看，這些資產平均有一點成長。

Then you have assets that are competitively impacted like Tunica, like the Chicago market that are very different from a revenue and EBITDA perspective. They're under pressure. And then you've got properties where we were the new supply, whether either to a new project like Lake Charles or Virginia or an expansion like Indiana, and our revenue and EBITDA is going up. And the net result of that is what you saw in the business for the quarter that EBITDA grew and EBITDA margin was flat. And that's really been the case for about a year now for us.

然後你擁有像圖尼卡（Tunica）這樣受到競爭影響的資產，例如芝加哥市場，從收入和 EBITDA 的角度來看，這些資產非常不同。他們有壓力。然後，我們就獲得了新供應的房產，無論是查爾斯湖或弗吉尼亞州這樣的新項目，還是印第安納州這樣的擴張項目，我們的收入和 EBITDA 都在上升。最終的結果就是您在該季度的業務中看到的 EBITDA 成長而 EBITDA 利潤率持平。對我們來說，這種情況已經持續了大約一年。

Every quarter, we run into kind of, "Well, now it's got to be right around the corner," and we're just not seeing that. We saw the well-documented surge in unrated play with stimulus checks a couple of years ago. Unrated play is where you see the volatility, but our database is strong enough that it's able to withstand that decline in unrated playback from the pandemic -- or the stimulus day. So we feel very good about where we sit in our regional business.

每個季度，我們都會遇到這樣的情況：「好吧，現在它就在拐角處，」但我們只是沒有看到這一點。幾年前，我們看到了有據可查的刺激支票未評級遊戲的激增。未評級的播放是您看到波動的地方，但我們的資料庫足夠強大，能夠承受大流行或刺激日導致的未評級播放的下降。因此，我們對我們在區域業務中的地位感到非常滿意。

And remember, this is -- the logic behind pursuing Caesars as a target in M&A was diversification is going to be a strength of the company. And that's what we've seen. From a broad perspective, you saw, as the pandemic ended, people didn't want to get on a plane. And regionals carried Vegas. Then regionals had the tough comp versus stimulus. And Vegas carried regionals. Now you have both of them kind of bumping along as modest growers, and we have digital kicking in. And within regional, we've got diversification across our portfolio. And we hear what's said by others. We heard one of our competitors in Reno say Reno is off because there's an international competitor. I don't know who that is because we had our best quarter ever in Reno. So I would just tell you that the diversification that we thought was going to be a huge asset for the company continues to prove itself to us, and we hope to you.

請記住，將凱撒集團作為併購目標背後的邏輯是多元化將成為該公司的優勢。這就是我們所看到的。從廣泛的角度來看，隨著大流行的結束，人們不想坐飛機。地方隊則贏得了維加斯。然後地區性的競爭與刺激措施之間存在著艱難的競爭。維加斯也有區域賽。現在，他們倆都作為適度的種植者穩步前進，而我們也開始了數位化。在區域內，我們的投資組合實現了多元化。我們聽到其他人的說法。我們聽到裡諾的一位競爭對手說裡諾已經關閉，因為有一個國際競爭對手。我不知道那是誰，因為我們在裡諾度過了有史以來最好的一個季度。因此，我只想告訴您，我們認為將成為公司巨大資產的多元化繼續向我們證明，我們希望您也能如此。

That's super helpful. And then over in digital, several weeks now into the NFL season, wondering if you were seeing anything from the competitive landscape that's surprising at all, from promotional and advertising perspective. And then if you could, separate but related, if you could just update us on your overall confidence levels of hitting that digital EBITDA target in '25? That would be great.

這非常有幫助。然後在數字方面，現在 NFL 賽季已經開始幾週了，想知道從促銷和廣告的角度來看，您是否從競爭格局中看到了任何令人驚訝的事情。然後，如果可以的話，分開但相關，您能否向我們介紹一下您在 25 年實現數字 EBITDA 目標的總體信心水平？那太好了。

Yes. So the target has not changed. We continue to see a visible path to that end. And each quarter, we grow more confident. We're not seeing anything promotionally that's requiring us to respond. I'll let others talk about their own promo strategies. We huddle each other once in a while and say look at this, look at that. But we've kind of got our head down executing on our business model and driving that $500 million of EBITDA, which again would be a about a 50% return on the cumulative EBITDA losses our shareholders allowed us to invest in the business today. So we feel very, very confident about where we are in this business.

是的。所以目標沒有改變。我們繼續看到實現這一目標的可見道路。每個季度，我們都變得更有自信。我們沒有看到任何需要我們回應的促銷活動。我會讓其他人談談他們自己的促銷策略。我們偶爾擠在一起說看這個，看那個。但我們已經埋頭執行我們的商業模式，並推動了 5 億美元的 EBITDA，這又是股東今天允許我們投資該業務的累積 EBITDA 損失的 50% 左右的回報。所以我們對我們在這個行業的地位非常非常有信心。

Our next question comes from Barry Jonas with Truist Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Barry Jonas。

I was wondering if you could talk about next steps, maybe any updated expectations for the New York land-based casino process. I believe one bidder is exiting that process. And while we're at it, maybe any general thoughts on the potential for iGaming in New York as well.

我想知道您是否可以談談接下來的步驟，也許是對紐約實體賭場流程的任何最新期望。我相信有一個投標者正在退出這一過程。當我們討論這個問題時，也許還有關於紐約 iGaming 潛力的一般想法。

Yes. So tongue in cheek, I'd say I don't have grandkids yet but I'm hoping it's awarded before my first grandkid is 25 years old. It's going slowly. They've just passed the second round of questions, the deadline for that, so then they'll answer all the questions. Then you get into the community Board process where you've got to -- they'll put out the RFP. You've got to be approved by your community Board. Those that are approved by their community boards will have an opportunity to submit the final application for the license. As I sit here today, I think the quickest that they could issue a license based on what needs to be accomplished between now and then, is the end of 2024. I would say my personal expectation is it's 2025 before a license is issued.

是的。開玩笑地說，我還沒有孫子，但我希望在我的第一個孫子 25 歲之前能獲得這個獎項。一切進展緩慢。他們剛剛過了第二輪問題，也就是最後期限，所以他們會回答所有問題。然後你進入社區委員會流程，你必須這樣做——他們會提出 RFP。您必須得到社區委員會的批准。那些獲得社區委員會批准的人將有機會提交最終的許可證申請。當我今天坐在這裡時，我認為他們根據從現在到那時需要完成的工作，最快可以在 2024 年底頒發許可證。我個人的期望是 2025 年才能頒發許可證。

Got it. And then just a follow-up on digital. I appreciate the comments on low hold in the quarter reversing. I guess you've talked in the past about -- maybe expectations for holds for bridging the gap with competitors. So just curious if any updated thoughts there and sort of the timing to narrow that gap?

知道了。然後是數位化的後續行動。我很欣賞有關本季低點反轉的評論。我想你過去曾談到過——也許是為了縮小與競爭對手的差距而持有的期望。所以只是好奇是否有任何更新的想法以及縮小差距的時機？

Yes, sure. I'll jump in on this one. We continue to see the -- an end point where we're going to have hold in the 7.5% to 8% range. If you look at this quarter in particular, we did continue to have sequential hold improvement for the last 4 quarters, actually. It's really just we had an anomaly in Q3 of last year, where we held almost 200 basis points on the sports betting side higher than any other quarter in the 2 years. So it's really just a reversal of that period. And that was primarily driven by the September last year football results, which then reversed this year. But we're steadily improving on that path.

是的，當然。我會參與其中。我們繼續看到——我們將保持在 7.5% 至 8% 範圍內的終點。如果您特別關注本季度，實際上，我們在過去 4 個季度中確實繼續實現了持續改善。事實上，我們在去年第三季度出現了異常，我們在體育博彩方面的表現比兩年來任何其他季度都要高出近 200 個基點。所以這其實只是那個時期的逆轉。這主要是由去年 9 月的足球比賽結果推動的，但今年的情況卻發生了逆轉。但我們正在這條道路上穩步進步。

It is important to note that if you look at last year's, our blended hold was around 5.5%. So if you increase it by 200 basis points on the volumes that we're producing, you're talking a couple of hundred million more of incremental GGR, which at those flow-through rates that we talked about, should be a big contributor towards the EBITDA. And as I mentioned, we're heading steadily in that direction. So that's one of those areas that if it's in the model to get to the $500 million, we have to execute on it, but it's not particularly dependent on either the consumer changing behavior or are our competitors doing something differently. We just need to execute on that.

值得注意的是，如果你看看去年的情況，我們的混合持有量約為 5.5%。因此，如果您將我們生產的產量增加 200 個基點，那麼您所說的增量 GGR 就增加了數億，按照我們討論的流通率，這應該是對息稅折舊及攤銷前利潤。正如我所提到的，我們正在朝著這個方向穩步前進。因此，如果模型中的目標達到 5 億美元，我們就必須執行該目標，但這並不特別依賴消費者行為的改變或我們的競爭對手是否採取了不同的做法。我們只需要執行即可。

Our next question comes from Stephen Grambling with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的史蒂芬‧格蘭布林。

I know in the past, you've talked about hitting the 4 turns of leverage and then keeping M&A in the toolkit. Would love to hear, as you look at the broader environment, obviously, there's been a lot of market volatility. Does that increase the likelihood of any M&A opportunities popping up? Or do you say, look, at this point, buying back your own stock makes the most sense?

我知道過去您曾談到要使用 4 圈槓桿，然後將併購保留在工具箱中。我很想聽聽，當你看看更廣泛的環境時，顯然，市場波動很大。這是否會增加併購機會的可能性？或者你說，看，在這一點上，回購自己的股票最有意義嗎？

Yes. So thanks for the question. So the uses of free cash flow that are available to us are deleveraging something internal from a growth capital perspective, something external from an M&A perspective or buying my stock. When we had the conversation last quarter, our stock was right around $60 and going up. As we sit here today, it's closed around $40 today. At that free cash flow yield, it's going to be very difficult for me to find an external opportunity that I have the same level of conviction I'd have in terms of driving returns and buying my stock at a 15-plus percent free cash flow yield.

是的。謝謝你的提問。因此，我們可用的自由現金流的用途是從成長資本的角度去槓桿化內部的東西，從併購的角度去槓桿化外部的東西或購買我的股票。當我們上個季度進行對話時，我們的股票價格約為 60 美元，並且還在上漲。當我們今天坐在這裡時，今天的收盤價約為 40 美元。在這樣的自由現金流收益率下，我將很難找到一個外部機會，讓我對推動回報和以超過 15% 的自由現金流購買我的股票有同樣的信念。屈服。

So when we get to our the -- toward the end of the New Orleans project and leverage gets to our target, if I can drive the kind of free cash flow returns we could drive with our stock at $40, I'd much more likely be a buyer of our stock than using it in an acquisition where I'm effectively selling it. So it's going to depend on where we sit. Those are the tools available in the toolkit, but the stock at this level is very clearly the best alternative.

因此，當我們接近新奧爾良項目的尾聲並且槓桿達到我們的目標時，如果我能夠推動我們的股票價格為 40 美元時可以推動的自由現金流回報，我更有可能成為我們股票的買家，而不是在我實際上出售股票的收購中使用它。所以這將取決於我們坐在哪裡。這些是工具包中可用的工具，但這個水平的股票顯然是最好的選擇。

That's helpful. And perhaps a change in topic, but on iGaming, I think you referenced a bit of a pivot to more slot play. Is that effectively a different customer as we think about iGaming on tables versus slots? And there's always the question of is that impacting at all the brick-and-mortar customer and/or properties, are you still seeing incremental customers coming from digital?

這很有幫助。也許主題發生了變化，但在 iGaming 上，我認為您提到了更多老虎機遊戲的關鍵點。當我們考慮桌上遊戲和老虎機遊戲時，這實際上是不同的客戶嗎？始終存在的問題是，在影響所有實體客戶和/或財產的情況下，您是否仍然看到來自數位化的增量客戶？

Yes. So the answer is yes. The customer that showed up in our iGaming business before through our sports betting tab tended to be a sports better, which skews younger and male and table games player. If you look at the businesses we want to emulate in the iGaming arena, they look like our brick-and-mortar business in terms of skewing to slots and older and female. And since we've launched Caesars Palace Online, that's exactly what we've seen in that app. So very encouraging in terms of early days results.

是的。所以答案是肯定的。先前透過我們的運動博彩標籤出現在我們的 iGaming 業務中的客戶往往是體育更好的人，這偏向年輕、男性和桌上遊戲玩家。如果你看看我們想在 iGaming 領域效仿的企業，你會發現它們在偏向老虎機、老年人和女性方面與我們的實體業務相似。自從我們推出 Caesars Palace Online 以來，這正是我們在該應用程式中看到的。就早期結果而言，非常令人鼓舞。

In terms of cannibalization, we have seen nothing to date in terms of cannibalizing the brick-and-mortar business. It's been accretive to brick-and-mortar in that customers that we found through digital or reactivated in digital, showing up in brick-and-mortar, continues to increase as the quarters pass. So very pleased with how that business is developing. I know that it's early stage since we've launched Caesars Palace Online, but extremely encouraged by results.

就蠶食而言，到目前為止我們還沒有看到任何蠶食實體業務的情況。隨著季度的過去，我們透過數位方式找到的客戶或透過數位方式重新激活的客戶，在實體店中出現的客戶不斷增加，這對實體店來說是不斷增加的。對該業務的發展非常滿意。我知道，自從我們推出凱撒宮在線以來，現在還處於早期階段，但結果非常令人鼓舞。

Our next question comes from John DeCree with CBRE.

我們的下一個問題來自 CBRE 的 John DeCree。

Maybe one back on iGaming. And I know most of your peers, competitors don't really provide active user information. But from your response to your prior questions, it sounds like, with the shift in demographics, are you seeing a meaningful increase in active users or frequency of play from customers? Or are you more seeing, since you've launched a stand-alone app, higher-paying customers come in or a mix of both? Any kind of color you could provide around those trends would be helpful.

也許又回到了 iGaming。我知道大多數同行、競爭對手並沒有真正提供活躍用戶資訊。但從您對先前問題的回答來看，隨著人口統計數據的變化，您是否看到活躍用戶或客戶的遊戲頻率出現有意義的增長？或者，自從您推出了獨立應用程式以來，您是否更多地看到付費客戶的加入或兩者兼而有之？您可以圍繞這些趨勢提供的任何顏色都會有所幫助。

Yes. You're seeing all of the above. You're seeing more active play, you're seeing increase in customers and you're seeing better customers coming into our network. So it's been, as I said, an encouraging start.

是的。您看到了以上所有內容。您將看到更活躍的遊戲、客戶的增加以及更好的客戶進入我們的網路。所以，正如我所說，這是一個令人鼓舞的開始。

And maybe to pivot back to the M&A potential question, I guess bigger picture, I imagine the answer is potential target specific, but given the margin improvements that the industry realized, post-pandemic, when you look at possible targets, do you still see an opportunity for meaningful synergies or efficiencies that you and your team could find? It might make an M&A target particularly accretive when valuing that against the free cash yield of your stock today. I mean are there still some opportunities that you think you can harvest some additional EBITDA growth from?

也許回到併購潛在的問題，我想更大的前景，我想答案是潛在的特定目標，但考慮到行業在大流行後實現的利潤率改善，當你考慮可能的目標時，你是否仍然看到您和您的團隊可以找到實現有意義的協同效應或效率的機會嗎？當根據您今天股票的自由現金收益率來評估併購目標時，它可能會使併購目標特別具有增值性。我的意思是，您認為還有一些機會可以從中獲得額外的 EBITDA 成長嗎？

Yes. I would say the risk of running out of opportunities where we think we can squeeze more EBITDA out of assets than a target is very, very low on my list of reasons why M&A might not happen.

是的。我想說的是，在我認為併購可能不會發生的原因清單上，我們認為可以從資產中榨取比目標更多的 EBITDA 的機會消失的風險非常非常低。

Our next question comes from David Katz with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自傑弗里斯的大衛·卡茨。

I wanted to just go back to Vegas and the Vegas margins in particular because Tom, you laid out some items in your earlier remarks about accruals about Rio leaving, about Versailles disrupting a little more than expected. Are you able to quantify that for us? And the nature of the question is always just trying to find what the normal Vegas margin is going to be with a lot of the noise going on.

我想回到維加斯，特別是維加斯的利潤率，因為湯姆，你在之前的評論中列出了一些關於裡約離開的應計項目，關於凡爾賽的干擾比預期多一點。您能為我們量化一下嗎？問題的本質始終只是試圖找出在存在大量噪音的情況下維加斯的正常利潤率是多少。

Yes. So I'd say what I can quantify is Rio is a little over $40 million of revenue with 0 EBITDA, maybe even -- the way it runs, it was less than 0 since you had to run the lease payment through it. So we had -- with that coming out, that's a significant move in reduction in revenue, increase in EBITDA with it out of the system. I don't -- again, I don't want to touch on any details of the new contracts. We're in dialogue. And in terms of Versailles, really you're seeing rooms that were out of service that will come back online by the end of the year. So you can presume that versus third quarter last year, that was a margin headwind. And coming back online at a higher average rate should be accretive to margins going forward.

是的。所以我想說的是，我可以量化的是，Rio 的收入略高於4000 萬美元，EBITDA 為0，甚至可能——按照它的運作方式，它還不到0，因為你必須透過它來支付租賃付款。因此，隨著該計劃的推出，這是收入減少的重大舉措，而 EBITDA 則隨著系統的退出而增加。我不想——再說一遍，我不想觸及新合約的任何細節。我們正在對話。就凡爾賽宮而言，您確實會看到停止使用的房間將在今年年底恢復正常使用。因此，您可以假設與去年第三季相比，這是利潤率的逆風。以更高的平均速度恢復上線應該會增加未來的利潤率。

Got it. And if I can just follow up with Eric on the digital side. One of the observations today is that product is winning, things such as parlays and in-game and other kinds of features and functionality. How would you characterize your arc in sort of being caught up with the leaders in terms of doing that and presuming that you do have to do that in order to accomplish your goals? Or am I misreading that?

知道了。如果我能在數字方面跟進埃里克的話。今天的觀察結果之一是產品正在獲勝，例如連贏、遊戲內以及其他類型的功能和功能。你會如何描述你的弧線，在某種程度上追趕領導者的做法，並假設你必須這樣做才能實現你的目標？還是我誤讀了？

Yes. I think it's a great question. I think you're right. Product is quite important. I think it manifests itself mostly in retention because trial, you can get that right away, and then it's a question of how much people are going to continue to play and then how much they play once they do. From our perspective, I think we've made a lot of steps in the last 2 years, and I feel like our product is comparable to the top products that are out there, not quite to the level. There are still some pieces of functionality that we just haven't developed yet or focused on. But having the same-game parlays for the NCAA, having live same-game parlays, having alternative-line SGPs out there were big steps rolling those out for the NBA coming up and then getting that same action into hockey and so forth are some of the things that we still need to close the gap on.

是的。我認為這是一個很好的問題。我想你是對的。產品相當重要。我認為它主要體現在保留率上，因為試用後，你可以立即得到它，然後問題是有多少人會繼續玩，然後他們一旦玩了多少。從我們的角度來看，我認為我們在過去兩年中已經取得了很多進步，我覺得我們的產品可以與現有的頂級產品相媲美，但還沒有完全達到水平。還有一些功能我們尚未開發或關注。但是，在NCAA 中進行同場連贏、進行現場同場連贏、進行替代線SGP 是在即將到來的NBA 中推出這些措施的重大舉措，然後在曲棍球比賽中採取同樣的行動等等，這些都是其中的一些內容。我們仍然需要縮小差距的事情。

But broadly speaking, I feel like if a customer came to our app, the benefits that we have with Caesars Rewards with a lot of the other things that we can offer that some of our competitors can't, the app is going to allow them to stay with us and become a loyal customer. Whereas I think if you were to say that same thing about a year or 1.5 years ago, that may not have been the case.

但從廣義上講，我覺得如果客戶來到我們的應用程序，我們透過凱撒獎勵計劃獲得的好處以及我們可以提供的許多其他東西，而我們的一些競爭對手無法提供，該應用程式將允許他們保留在我們身邊並成為忠實的客戶。但我認為，如果你在一年前或 1.5 年前說同樣的話，情況可能並非如此。

Our next question comes from Chad Beynon with Macquarie.

我們的下一個問題來自麥格理的查德·貝農。

This is Sam on for Chad. First one is for Eric. Wanted to ask about the watch and bet streaming feature that you launched for NFL this season. And have you seen any changes in customer engagement or betting behavior from implementing this feature so far? And any thoughts around adding this feature for other sports.

這是查德的山姆。第一個是給埃里克的。想詢問一下你們本賽季為 NFL 推出的觀看和投注串流媒體功能。到目前為止，您是否發現實施此功能後客戶參與度或投注行為發生了任何變化？以及關於為其他運動添加此功能的任何想法。

Yes. We're very excited to be one of the few operators to basically trial this for the NFL and our partners. We do see uptick in terms of customers watching it on our app. We we're able to measure how many people are viewing it and so forth. The next big step is going to be able to overlay wagering opportunities while customers are watching it. That we don't have yet. It's under development, and that's why we still consider this to kind of be a trial. So in terms of customer behavior change, at this point, we're still waiting for more data to be able to determine that. But a lot of the benefit that we feel we're getting out of this is on the tech side, being able to integrate it, working with the data feed providers and then being able to measure how the, customers are using it. Those will be the real benefits kind of going forward. In terms of doing it for other sports, we're definitely interested in doing that. It really depends on what the leagues' policies are and how they plan to utilize that service.

是的。我們很高興成為為 NFL 和我們的合作夥伴進行基本試驗的少數運營商之一。我們確實看到在我們的應用程式上觀看該節目的客戶增加。我們能夠測量有多少人正在觀看它等等。下一個重大步驟將是能夠在客戶觀看的同時疊加投注機會。我們還沒有。它正在開發中，這就是為什麼我們仍然認為這是一種試驗。因此，就客戶行為變化而言，目前我們仍在等待更多數據來確定這一點。但我們認為我們從中獲得的許多好處是在技術方面，能夠整合它，與資料來源提供者合作，然後能夠衡量客戶如何使用它。這些將是未來真正的好處。就其他運動而言，我們絕對有興趣這樣做。這實際上取決於聯盟的政策以及他們計劃如何利用該服務。

Okay. And then perhaps for Tom, recent market data showed that Las Vegas RevPAR growth has trended well into the double digits in October. Just wanted to get your view. Given what you're seeing today in terms of bookings, consumer behavior, the return of conferences and the overall events calendar in '24, where do you think The Strip RevPAR growth can get to in '24 or at least in the first half of '24?

好的。也許對 Tom 來說，最近的市場數據顯示，拉斯維加斯 10 月的 RevPAR 成長趨勢已達到兩位數。只是想聽聽你的看法。鑑於您今天在預訂、消費者行為、會議回歸和 24 年整體活動日曆方面看到的情況，您認為拉斯維加斯大道的 RevPAR 增長在 24 年或至少在 2016 年上半年會達到什麼水平？ '24？

We're optimistic about The Strip, generally, the group calendar ahead of us. I would -- we don't really have much room and occupancy anymore. We've just reported almost 97% occupancy for the quarter. So it will come in late. You'll see that as we shift mix more into group and feel very good about '24 from that perspective.

總的來說，我們對拉斯維加斯大道持樂觀態度，對我們面前的小組賽程也持樂觀態度。我會——我們真的不再有太多的空間和佔用率了。我們剛剛報告本季入住率接近 97%。所以它會來得很晚。你會看到，當我們將更多的組合轉移到團體中時，從這個角度來看，你對 '24 感覺非常好。

Our next question comes from Daniel Guglielmo with Capital One Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自第一資本證券公司的丹尼爾·古列爾莫。

So the first one, just in the Q, you gave a guide for maintenance project spend. It looks like the midpoint of that spend went up around $40 million versus last quarter. Is that just construction and labor coming in higher than expected? Or have there been changes to the plans to close out the year?

第一個，就在問題中，您提供了維護項目支出指南。與上季相比，該支出的中位數似乎增加了約 4,000 萬美元。這只是建築和勞動力的成長高於預期嗎？或者年底的計劃是否有變化？

Yes. We just caught up on some deferred spend from last year into this year. So slightly accelerated above pace within the calendar year spend on maintenance.

是的。我們剛剛彌補了去年到今年的一些延期支出。因此，日曆年內維護支出的速度略有加快。

Okay. And then just going back to the table game drop for the brick-and-mortar portfolio. I know we talked about Vegas earlier, but it's also slowed year-to-date on the regional side, and it seems like table game traffic volumes have diverged from slots in both segments. Is there anything there around certain demographics or a piece of the database not showing up or playing differently? And do table game players tend to be younger than slot players in a brick-and-mortar?

好的。然後回到桌上遊戲中尋找實體投資組合。我知道我們早些時候討論過維加斯，但今年迄今為止，區域方面的增長速度也有所放緩，而且桌面遊戲流量似乎與兩個細分市場的老虎機流量有所不同。某些人口統計或資料庫的某個部分是否有未顯示或播放方式不同的情況？桌上遊戲玩家是否比實體店的老虎機玩家年輕？

So the answer to the last question is no. The players across a regional casino don't have particularly differences, differences in ages. In terms of tables across the enterprise, I can't point to any specific changes in behavior that's -- what number we're looking at?

所以最後一個問題的答案是否定的。區域賭場的玩家沒有特別的差異，年齡差異。就整個企業的表格而言，我無法指出任何特定的行為變化，即我們正在查看的數字是多少？

Table games dropped in Vegas and regionally, it went down versus slot volumes up.

賭台遊戲在維加斯和地區範圍內有所下降，而老虎機數量卻有所增加。

Yes. I don't really have anything intelligent to say about that. Most of our regional properties, table game's a fairly small piece of the business. Regional business is driven by slot revenue much more so than Vegas.

是的。對此我真的沒有什麼明智的說法。在我們大多數的區域性酒店中，桌上遊戲只佔業務的一小部分。區域業務對老虎機收入的推動力遠高於維加斯。

Our next question comes from Joe Stauff with SIG.

我們的下一個問題來自 SIG 的 Joe Stauff。

I just had two, maybe on digital. We can see some references of your reduction in OSB spend. And just wondering, is it fair to assume, is that a permanent reduction as you think about sort of your OSB product? Or is it likely that you'll just reallocate that spend? And I'm talking about say, customer acquisition retention to your new iCasino first product. I know it's still ramping, so it's probably not 1:1, but just wondering how to think about that strategy going forward? And then maybe to see how Nevada did in the third quarter, you had just launched a new app, your new app, in Nevada. Just wondering if, year-over-year that was up.

我只有兩個，也許是數字的。我們可以看到一些有關您減少定向刨花板支出的參考資料。只是想知道，當您考慮 OSB 產品時，是否可以公平地假設，這是永久性的減少？或者您可能會重新分配這筆支出？我說的是，客戶獲取保留對新的 iCasino 第一個產品。我知道它仍在增加，所以可能不是 1:1，但只是想知道如何考慮未來的策略？然後也許為了看看內華達州在第三季度的表現，您剛剛在內華達州推出了一個新應用程序，您的新應用程式。只是想知道這數字是否逐年上升。

Yes. So Joe, in terms of Nevada, yes, as we moved from CBS to Liberty and the functionality of our app that you see everywhere else, what we saw was an increase in hold, increase in volume, increase in average bets per user, what you would expect to see in terms of, call it, this generation product versus a prior generation product. In terms of what we're doing in promo, you should expect that there's going to be some spend that we've talked about in terms of launching iCasino. But given the way iCasino works in the amount of states, there's nothing in terms of the intensity that you see in OSB states. So you'll see some launch spend there, but you should expect OSB will be pretty stable for us. As Eric said, we've been kind of 1.25% of handles for quite a while now over a year, and we'd expect that to remain the case. Permanent is a long time. So I can't tell you it will never change, but we feel good about where we're at.

是的。所以喬，就內華達州而言，是的，當我們從CBS 轉移到Liberty 以及您在其他地方看到的應用程式功能時，我們看到的是持有量的增加、交易量的增加、每個用戶的平均賭注的增加，什麼您會期望看到這一代產品與上一代產品的比較。就我們在促銷方面所做的事情而言，您應該預料到我們在推出 iCasino 方面將會有一些支出。但考慮到 iCasino 在多個州的運作方式，您在 OSB 州看到的強度並不算什麼。所以你會看到一些發射支出，但你應該預期 OSB 對我們來說會相當穩定。正如艾瑞克（Eric）所說，一年多來我們一直保持 1.25% 的控制率，我們預計這種情況將持續下去。永久是很長一段時間。所以我不能告訴你它永遠不會改變，但我們對自己所處的位置感覺很好。

And maybe just one follow-up. For iCasino, are you largely just mining your large loyalty database for, let's say, cross-promotional type of customer? What are you seeing thus far in that?

也許只是一個後續行動。對於 iCasino，您主要只是為交叉促銷類型的客戶挖掘大型忠誠度資料庫？到目前為止你看到了什麼？

Yes. I would say, broadly speaking, our database is more responsive to the new app as you would hope and as you'd expect. When we built it, it was designed to be much more similar to a traditional casino experience. That said, we continue to get the majority of the customers that are trialing the app from other sources. So it comes from paid search, paid social affiliates and then just from brand recognition and advertising to people who trial the app. So it's a good mix right now. I think over time, our real differentiator, though, is the ability to cross-sell between online and bricks-and-mortar. And so we're eagerly looking forward to working with the soft providers to provide games and promos and jackpots that span both brick-and-mortar and digital.

是的。我想說，從廣義上講，我們的資料庫對新應用程式的反應速度更快，正如您所希望的那樣。當我們建造它時，它的設計與傳統賭場的體驗更加相似。也就是說，我們繼續從其他來源獲得大多數正在試用該應用程式的客戶。因此，它來自付費搜尋、付費社交附屬機構，然後僅來自品牌知名度和向試用該應用程式的人提供的廣告。所以現在這是一個很好的組合。但我認為，隨著時間的推移，我們真正的區別在於在線上和實體之間交叉銷售的能力。因此，我們熱切期待與軟體供應商合作，提供涵蓋實體和數字的遊戲、促銷和累積獎金。

I'd now like to turn the call back over to Tom Reeg for any closing remarks.

現在我想將電話轉回給湯姆·雷格（Tom Reeg），讓其結束語。

All right. Thanks, everybody. We will see you, I'm sure, at some conferences between now and then. But happy holidays, we'll see after first quarter.

好的。謝謝大家。我相信，從現在到那時，我們會在一些會議上見到你。但節日快樂，我們將在第一季後看到。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。