Weather, construction may hurt gaming firms’ profits

Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2001 | 11:04 a.m.

Three big casino operators' profits for the just-ended fourth quarter may be hurt by weather problems in the Midwest, while one suffered from construction problems in Las Vegas and Mississippi, reports said Monday and today.

Mandalay Resort Group of Las Vegas has not issued any earnings projections or warnings. But the Detroit News reported today that Mandalay's results could be hurt by harsh weather in Detroit and at Elgin, Ill. Mandalay has casinos in both locations.

Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Brian Egger last week trimmed his quarterly earnings estimate for the company from 17 cents to 14 cents per share.

Park Place Entertainment Corp. of Las Vegas last week said its results wouldn't meet expectations, in part because of weather problems.

"We suffer from the same weather," Mandalay President Glenn Schaeffer said Monday, though he declined comment on Egger's earnings estimate, the News reported today.

Other analysts, however, noted MGM MIRAGE on Monday said it would beat estimates. They said this indicates Mandalay may not suffer much from weather problems since both Mandalay and MGM MIRAGE operate in Detroit and both are big operators on the Las Vegas Strip, the News reported.

Separately, Boyd Gaming Corp. of Las Vegas said it expects to report a loss before pre-opening expenses of between 4 cents and 8 cents per share for the quarter because of poor weather in the South and Midwest, tough competition and construction disruptions at Sam's Town in Tunica, Miss.; and lower than expected revenues and higher start-up expenses for the renovation and expansion of Sam's Town in Las Vegas.

Finally, Aztar Corp. of Phoenix, owner of the Tropicana resorts in Atlantic City and Las Vegas and other properties, said its fourth quarter results will be about even with the 1999 quarter's profit of 10 cents per share.

Aztar said its riverboat casinos in the Midwest were hurt by severe winter weather in December and that lower hotel occupancies in Laughlin in October and November hurt results at its property there.

Operating results for Tropicana's property in Atlantic City were flat while its Las Vegas results were up substantially, Aztar said.