Casino profit hurt by bad luck

Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2002 | 11:13 a.m.

Mandalay Resort Group today said it earned 50 cents a share in the third quarter, less than analysts expected, because gamblers won more than usual on table games at its Mandalay Bay casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

Analysts expected the Las Vegas-based company to earn 52 cents a share for the quarter ended Oct. 31, based on the average estimate of Thomson First Call. Las Vegas- based Mandalay shares fell $1.18 to $26.50 as of 10:30 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading this morning.

Mandalay said that its table game losses in October cut earnings by 2 cents a share. The company also paid higher taxes on its Grand Victoria riverboat casino in Elgin, Ill., of which it owns 50 percent, Mandalay said.

Mandalay earned $23 million, or 32 cents a share, a year earlier.

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