Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news, MGM President and CEO
Speaker 1: Bill Hornbuckle Bill another thing that analysts had said, the
Speaker 1: analyst at Susplhanna saying that if you buy MGM, you
Speaker 1: better be right on Las Vegas. What is the promise
Speaker 1: of Las Vegas in terms of how much you can
Speaker 1: bring in this year and how booming the economy could
Speaker 1: get this year.
Speaker 2: Look for us, Las Vegas fundamentally is still at the
Speaker 2: core of our business. We're in the luxury segment and
Speaker 2: about eighty percent of our earnings come out of luxury.
Speaker 2: So anything about the place I'm sitting in today, Blazio, Aria,
Speaker 2: the Cosmopolitan, MGM, and to a certain extent even Mandalay.
Speaker 2: In our core convention business, it is all doing well.
Speaker 2: Occupancies are at all time high again average rate we
Speaker 2: reported to the quarter, and I think it'll send in
Speaker 2: this quarter up sixty seven percent. And so Las Vegas
Speaker 2: continues to do well. I think the question will be
Speaker 2: not if they come, but what the spend will be
Speaker 2: around the perissery, round, entertainment, through beverage, and some of
Speaker 2: the other answery things people spend money on here. But
Speaker 2: our core fundamentals are solid, and Las Vegas is continuing
Speaker 2: to drive that for us and I think ultimately for
Speaker 2: the industry.
Speaker 1: Bill, how do you feel about inflation at this point
Speaker 1: in time? Are there any signs that the consumer is
Speaker 1: feeling the sting of inflation that could impact that trajectory
Speaker 1: in Las Vegas or anywhere else in the country.
Speaker 3: We're not immune from any of it.
Speaker 2: I think at the end of the day, people still
Speaker 2: cherish this experience.
Speaker 3: It's a getaway, it's an escape.
Speaker 2: I'll reflect on something back during even the Great Recession,
Speaker 2: the community ran.
Speaker 3: Our company rund eighty two percent.
Speaker 2: So if you think about nineteen two thousand and eight
Speaker 2: and all that happened, that people come to Las Vegas,
Speaker 2: what they do when they're here, what they spend money on, ultimately,
Speaker 2: I think becomes that differential the barometer. We have not
Speaker 2: seen a slowing down somewhat in the lower end of
Speaker 2: our category, the legacy properties that we have, We've seen
Speaker 2: some minor pullback, but you saw the results as it
Speaker 2: relates to the overall mol totality of our business driven
Speaker 2: by this particular quarter, super Bowl here in Las Vegas,
Speaker 2: and other events that will continue to host here. You know,
Speaker 2: We've become not only the entertainment capital of the world,
Speaker 2: but one of the sports capitals. And so you think
Speaker 2: about the entertainment drivers we have between Allegiant, T Mobile,
Speaker 2: Ultimatellions and subsequently in a couple of years the A's
Speaker 2: coming year, the long term view is pretty pretty strong.
Speaker 4: Well, just to meditate a little bit longer on Las Vegas,
Speaker 4: I mean you mentioned the super Bowl for example, some
Speaker 4: of the other sporting events coming up, your Formula one
Speaker 4: coming up as well. When you think about those events
Speaker 4: and the benefit on Las Vegas properties, I mean, how tangible,
Speaker 4: how meaningful has.
Speaker 2: That been.
Speaker 3: Substantively?
Speaker 2: I mean if you look at if you go back
Speaker 2: to nineteen, which was, you know, given the pandemic, was
Speaker 2: the last real full year we could measure off of.
Speaker 2: We have absolutely raised the bar when it comes to
Speaker 2: rooms of note and pricing, and so you know, we're
Speaker 2: looking at twenty five to thirty five percent more than
Speaker 2: we were at that baseline, and that has been consistent
Speaker 2: and continues to be consistent from last year twenty three,
Speaker 2: which was a record year, now into this year. And
Speaker 2: so we remain very optimistic and we have now enough
Speaker 2: of those events, not like we have one, we consistently
Speaker 2: pull them in and continue to continue to motivate that activity.
Speaker 2: Our Legion Stadium was destined to have about two thousand
Speaker 2: events a year.
Speaker 3: Last year, it had forty two.
Speaker 2: This year it's going to have like thirty five or
Speaker 2: thirty six, and so they're meaningful, and it literally that
Speaker 2: stadium sits in our backyard, particularly at the south end
Speaker 2: of the strip, and so the activity case is consistent,
Speaker 2: and it's just raised the fatality to the bar for
Speaker 2: all of us, but particularly us year with nine properties.
Speaker 4: We let's talk a little bit about your portfolio of
Speaker 4: casinos because Bloomberg News has reported that you're considering some
Speaker 4: of your domestic casinos and you actually said earlier today
Speaker 4: that your casinos must show quote real growth or risk sale.
Speaker 4: So if you could define real growth and over what
Speaker 4: timeline you're thinking about potential sales, that would definitely be helpful.
Speaker 2: I think principally our regional properties, and when you think
Speaker 2: about the marketplace, when you think about real growth over inslation,
Speaker 2: when you think about capital requirements and where's best to
Speaker 2: put our capital either, as you've seen, we've brought back
Speaker 2: thirty six percent of the company over the last couple
Speaker 2: of years or in assets that are both international or
Speaker 2: well as well here in Las Vegas.
Speaker 3: To a certain extent, what's the best use of our capital?
Speaker 2: And so when you think about a couple of our markets,
Speaker 2: you know, we question, we challenge, is there going to
Speaker 2: be real growth there? What are the capital requirements coming up?
Speaker 2: And how are we best in our shareholders best served?
Speaker 2: And in a couple of instances, you know, we probably
Speaker 2: will do something, but that's time to tell.
Speaker 1: You know, when you look at the access cash that
Speaker 1: you reported, I believe it's about one point two billion
Speaker 1: dollars bill and it raises the question would you consider
Speaker 1: acquisitions at this point, particularly when it comes to expanding
Speaker 1: in your digital presence online sports betting.
Speaker 3: What do you think brick and more? You know, I
Speaker 3: think less.
Speaker 2: So we are more interested in new jurisdictions that have
Speaker 2: real growth. You know, we're building in Japan and then
Speaker 2: I'll take a great deal of our cash over the
Speaker 2: next couple of years. But when you think about digital,
Speaker 2: we see that as the horizon. And I know, you know,
Speaker 2: we have a partnership with n TAN and VETMGM here domestically,
Speaker 2: but we've invested a great deal of time, energy, and money,
Speaker 2: and we'll continue to do so internationally. Through our Leo
Speaker 2: Vegas acquisition, we now have a content gaming company that
Speaker 2: helps us provide content into that business. We're looking for
Speaker 2: other bulletons that would make it make sense. Was very
Speaker 2: interested in Live Dealer, a proposition we'd like to motivate
Speaker 2: here from Las Vegas and broadcasts to the rest of
Speaker 2: the world. We think it could be meaningful over time,
Speaker 2: and so we're going to continue to invest into that
Speaker 2: space and relatively aggressively, but realizing those are not massive
Speaker 2: capital allocations or capital outlays. We're more structurally getting a
Speaker 2: business right to long term growth and.
Speaker 4: Bill We don't have much time left, but we haven't
Speaker 4: even talked about China, and we have to talk about
Speaker 4: what's going on in Macau, where you recently gained share.
Speaker 4: I think a lot of people got excited to see
Speaker 4: those details in the report this morning. What do you
Speaker 4: attribute that game to? Is that just the overall pie growing?
Speaker 4: Of course that recovery is still going on. Are you
Speaker 4: actively taking share in that market?
Speaker 3: Well, I think we're actively taking share.
Speaker 2: Look, we came into the pandemic with about eight or
Speaker 2: nine percent of the market.
Speaker 3: We currently sit in the mid teens left. This last
Speaker 3: quarter was seventeen percent.
Speaker 2: We've been aggressive in the context of what we've done
Speaker 2: to the properties, what we've done at the casino floor,
Speaker 2: in the layout, how we've approached a new error without
Speaker 2: junket operatives. We've had offices all over the globe, most
Speaker 2: notably in the Far East for thirty years, and so
Speaker 2: our ability to leverage into our own network and our
Speaker 2: own systems to go get customers directly and understand their wants,
Speaker 2: needs and desires, we think is somewhat unique and it's
Speaker 2: paying off and.
Speaker 3: You can see the results. Obviously, we just hit our
Speaker 3: quarter over three
Speaker 2: Hundred million cash flow, which was an all time record,
Speaker 2: and we believe we can sustain this level