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Bally's Corporation reported a 5.1% decline in Q4 revenue to $580.4 million while full-year 2024 revenue remained flat at $2.45 billion compared to 2023.
The results reflect a transitional year marked by strategic developments including the Standard General buyout, merger with Queen Casino properties, and major construction projects in Chicago and Las Vegas.
The company is positioning its "new Bally's 2.0" as a global casino operator with strong growth potential, despite ongoing challenges at several properties.
Bally's Corporation has revealed mixed financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2024, with Q4 revenue declining 5.1% year-over-year to $580.4 million while annual revenue remained essentially flat at $2.45 billion.
The company's CEO Robeson Reeves described 2024 as a "transformational and transitional year" that has positioned Bally's for what executives are calling "Bally's 2.0" – a reinvented gaming operator with expanded reach across both land-based and online operations.
"The new Bally's 2.0 is a dynamic global land-based and online casino operator with attractive growth pipelines in U.S. gaming," Reeves stated in the earnings release. The company notably canceled its scheduled earnings call, marking the second consecutive quarter without analyst commentary.
The Q4 revenue decline was primarily driven by a 5.2% drop in the Casinos & Resorts segment to $324.4 million and a 9.1% decrease in International Interactive revenue to $214.5 million. The segment's adjusted EBITDAR fell more significantly, down 14.6% to $80.9 million, reflecting higher costs and performance challenges at specific properties.
North America Interactive emerged as the company's bright spot, with revenue increasing 24.4% to $41.5 million in Q4 and an impressive 58% jump to $177.8 million for the full year. This growth was fueled by the launch of the Monopoly Casino app in New Jersey and expansion of the Bally Bet online sports betting platform to Tennessee.
The results come after a year of major strategic moves, most notably the July 2024 buyout from hedge fund Standard General, owned by Bally's chairman Soo Kim. This transaction included merging Bally's with Queen Casino and Entertainment, adding four casino properties to Bally's portfolio.
While these newly acquired Queen properties generated $57.6 million in Q4 revenue, they were not included in Bally's consolidated results. The company expects these additions to boost performance in 2025 and beyond.
"We emerged from these transactions significantly stronger, with the financial and operating wherewithal to continue to drive growth across our expanded Casinos & Resorts segment, our International Interactive business and our North America Interactive segment," Reeves added.
Several ongoing challenges were highlighted in the report. The temporary Chicago casino continues to underperform expectations, while the Lincoln, Rhode Island property faces reduced visitation due to local bridge construction, and the Atlantic City location struggles with marketing team turnover. However, the Kansas City property showed strength, benefiting from a new high-limit room.
In the International Interactive segment, UK operations grew by 11.3%, driven by strong player retention and revenue optimization efforts. The overall segment decline was influenced by Bally's divestiture of its Asian interactive business, which shifted to a licensing revenue model. Excluding divested markets, international revenue would have seen a 12.9% increase.
Bally's also reported progress on major development projects. Construction has begun on the permanent Chicago casino after receiving final master plan approval in December, following the rejection of the original design due to potential interference with city water pipes. In Las Vegas, the company completed the demolition of the Tropicana, making way for the Oakland Athletics' planned stadium.
Chief Financial Officer Marcus Glover emphasized the company's focus on optimizing costs and enhancing operational efficiency: "As we close out 2024 and begin 2025, our team is working diligently across multiple fronts to optimize our cost structure, enhance the efficiency of our operations, adopt certain best practices from Queen, and set the stage for significant long-term value creation."
Looking ahead, questions remain about Bally's reported interest in Australia's troubled Star Entertainment Group. Chairman Soo Kim confirmed to Inside Asian Gaming that company officials had met with Star and toured its three casinos, describing Bally's as "corporate firefighters" interested in distressed assets.
With the transformation into "Bally's 2.0" underway, the company's ability to address continuing operational challenges while integrating acquisitions and advancing major development projects will define its success in 2025.