Caesars Entertainment, Inc.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Caesars Entertainment, Inc. 2021 First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants' lines are in the listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. I would now like to hand the conference over to Brian Agnew, Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance, Treasurer, and Investor Relations. Thank you. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Erica, and good afternoon to everyone on the call. Welcome to our conference call to discuss our first quarter 2021 earnings. This afternoon, we issued a press release announcing our first quarter financial results for the period ended March 31, 2021. A copy of the press release is available in the investor relations section of our website at investor.caesars.com. Joining me on the call today are Tom Reed, our Chief Executive Officer, Anthony Carano, our President and Chief Operating Officer, and Brett Yunker, our Chief Financial Officer. Before I turn the call over to Anthony, I would like to remind you that during today's conference call, we may make certain forward-looking statements about the company's performance. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore one should not place undue reliance on them. Forward-looking statements are also subject to the inherent risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed. For additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in our forward-looking statements, you should refer to the cautionary statements contained in our press release, as well as the risk factors contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Caesars Entertainment undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after today's call. Also, during today's call, the company may discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures as defined by SEC Regulation G. The GAAP financial measures most directly comparable to each non-GAAP financial measure discussed are and the reconciliation of the differences between each non-GAAP financial measure and in the comparable GAAP financial measure can be found on the company's website at investor.caesars.com by selecting the press release regarding the company's 2021 first quarter financial results. I will now turn the call over to Anthony.

Thank you, Brian, and good afternoon to everyone on the call. We are very pleased with our quarter. Thirteen of our properties had EBITDA records in Q1, 19 had EBITDA margin records in Q1, and 20 properties had all-time EBITDA records in March, including four of our Vegas properties. Turning to Las Vegas, we generated $161 million of adjusted EBITDA in the quarter and $172 million of property-level EBITDA, excluding real rent payments. EBITDA improved 80% on a quarterly sequential basis. March was our strongest month where we generated approximately 90 million of EBITDA XRO rent payments and an all-time EBITDA margin record of 43%. Total occupancy for Q1 was 63% with weekends at 85% and midweek at 52%. March total occupancy was 77% and April was 84%. Weekends in Las Vegas are sold out for the foreseeable future. Finally, casino mix is a percentage of our occupancy with approximately 40% during the quarter. Looking ahead, we remain encouraged by booking trends for the second half of the year. Group and convention room nights on the books for the second half of 21 versus 19 are currently pacing up approximately 20%, and we're seeing good rate growth as well. 2022 group revenue on the books is pacing up approximately 15%. Caesars Forum, for all future periods, has booked over 165 events, 1.6 million room nights, and 633 million of revenues. Eighty percent of this business is new to Caesars. We are very optimistic regarding the remaining three quarters of the year in Las Vegas and the return of the group and convention business and entertainment offerings that will drive incremental demand to the market. Now turning to our regional markets, operating results improved significantly versus Q4 of 20 trends. On a year-over-year basis, regional revenues were flat and adjusted EBITDA was up 69%. Looking back to Q1 of 2019, revenues declined 14% and EBITDA was 4%, resulting in EBITDA margin gains of approximately 600 basis points. In March of 21, revenues for the consolidated regional portfolio declined 10% versus 2019, and adjusted EBITDA was up 5%. In our regional non-destination properties in Q1 21 versus Q1 of 19, and excluding Lake Charles, which is closed, revenues were down 8%, adjusted EBITDA was up 16%, and adjusted EBITDA margins improved approximately 800 basis points. And finally, in our regional destination properties, we're starting to see encouraging trends for this segment. Adjusted EBITDA for this group of properties on a quarterly sequential basis improved 110%, and margins improved 980 basis points. We expect to see continued improvement for these properties throughout the remaining three quarters of the year. I am extremely proud of our operating teams and their execution during the first quarter. The execution coupled with our operating philosophy will continue to lead to sustainable improvements in adjusted EBITDA margins going forward. We are excited about the remainder of the year and look forward to sharing our progress with you on future quarterly earnings calls. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Tom.