Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Caesars CEO on quarterly call: ‘Everything is going great’ in Las Vegas

Caesars Entertainment’s CEO was not ambiguous when describing business levels at the company’s Las Vegas resorts.

“Everything is going great in Vegas,” said Tom Reeg, the casino company’s CEO while speaking on a quarterly earnings conference call Tuesday. “There are not strong enough words to convey how well it’s going in Vegas for us.”

For the three-month period that ended June 30, Caesars recorded an EBITDA — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — figure of $547 million, a company record, according to its second quarter earnings filing.

For the three months that ended June 30, Reeg said about 20% of the room nights booked at Harrah’s Las Vegas were for group business customers because of convention business out of Caesars Forum, the company’s nearby meetings center that was built just before the pandemic hit in 2020.

He said a noticeable increase in international visitors to Las Vegas properties during the second quarter was a “great sign” for the company. Additionally, Reeg said that customers aged 55 and up have “started to come back like they’ve not come back since the pandemic.”

Reeg was also asked about flooding last week that occurred on the Strip, as social media videos showed visuals of water seeping into a number of Strip casinos, including Caesars Palace and Planet Hollywood. According to the National Weather Service, more than 1 inch of rain fell Thursday night at UNLV, which is about a mile away from the south end of the Strip.

“There’s no impact to the business at all,” Reeg said. “It’s some good social media footage.”