Caesars Entertainment, Inc.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Caesars Entertainment Inc. 2022 First Quarter Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are on a 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. Please be advised that this call is being recorded. If you require any further assistance, please press star 0. I would now like to hand the conference over to your host today, Brian Agnew, Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance, Treasury, and Investor Relations. You may begin.

Thank you, Justin, and good afternoon to everyone on the call. Welcome to our conference call to discuss our first quarter 2022 earnings. This afternoon, we issued a press release announcing our financial results for the period ended March 31, 2022. 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 the call today. 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 and the reconciliation of the differences between each non-GAAP financial measure and 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 2022 first quarter financial results. With that, I will turn the call over to Anthony.

Thank you, Brian, and good afternoon to everyone on the call. We delivered another strong quarter to start the year in 2022. Adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter, excluding Caesars Digital, was $850 million, up over 60% versus the first quarter last year. Margins in our brick-and-mortar business were 36.2%, despite the negative impacts of Omicron in January. Operating results reflect a new first quarter record for adjusted EBITDA in our Las Vegas segment, despite multiple headwinds during the quarter. In total, 18 of our properties set a record for the highest first quarter EBITDA, while 28 set a record for the highest Q1 EBITDA margin. Turning to Las Vegas, demand trends strengthened throughout the quarter, leading to an all-time first quarter record of $411 million in adjusted EBITDA, excluding real rent payments. EBITDA improved 140% versus the first quarter of 21, and margins improved 1,000 basis points to 45%. Total occupancy for Q1 was 83%, with weekend occupancy at 95% and midweek at 77%. As of April 1, 2022, we lifted all occupancy caps in Las Vegas and would expect to see a material improvement in occupancy for the second quarter of 2022. Group room nights during Q1 represented approximately 13% of occupied room nights in Las Vegas, up from 11% in the second half of 21, despite January weakness to Omicron. Elevated attrition rates continue to decline and group revenue pace in Las Vegas is strong for the remainder of the year and into 23 and 24. With convention demand accelerating, we are excited to finally see the full potential of the new Caesars Forum Convention Center. Forum currently has 150 future events booked with over 1.3 million room nights and over $500 million in revenue. Over 70% of this contracted business is new to Caesars as a company. In our regional markets, operating results remain strong, and revenues in EBITDA improve sequentially each month of the quarter. Trends have further improved into April. EBITDA for the first quarter was $459 million, with margins of 33.6%. highlighting a few specific properties, trends normalized in New Orleans in Q1, following the removal of masks and vaccine mandates in March. And Atlantic City had a great quarter despite still having rooms offline for remodeling. We are encouraged by the early returns on the capital spend at the recently rebranded Horseshoe Indianapolis and look forward to starting construction on our Harris Hoosier Park expansion this year. Following the launch of sports betting in iCasino in Ontario on April 4th, we now offer sports betting in a combination of 24 domestic states and North American jurisdictions, 17 of which offer mobile wagering. In March, we converted Illinois to our Liberty platform and expect all of our remaining Caesars-branded apps and sportsbooks to be running Liberty by year-end 2022. We remain focused on growing our digital business during Q1 through customer acquisition, especially in new markets including New York and Louisiana. While customer acquisition and handle exceeded our internal expectations, especially in New York and Louisiana, net revenues were negatively impacted by promotional investment to support the new market launches. Our capital program remains unchanged from our Q4 call. We are excited to have most of our room remodels completed in Atlantic City for the upcoming summer season and look forward to many new food and beverage and entertainment offerings this fall. Our new land-based facility in Lake Charles remains on track to open in Q4 of this year, and so does our casino expansion and new parking garage in Pompano. We anticipate breaking ground on our expansion plans for Harris Hoosier Park this quarter, and construction is slated to begin on our Columbus-Nebraska project later this year. These are exciting projects which will collectively generate a meaningful EBITDA contribution for our company. As we look to the remainder of 22, we remain optimistic about our business as consumer trends remain strong. We are also encouraged regarding improving group and convention trends in Las Vegas, as well as the potential for the full recovery of our older demographic consumer who has been the most impacted to COVID-19. In addition, our property rebrands are exceeding return expectations, which gives us confidence in future announced rebranding opportunities in St. Louis, Blackhawk, Las Vegas, and Florida. I want to thank all of our employees for their hard work in 2022 so far. I'm extremely proud of our operating teams, their execution, and their exceptional guest service. With that, I will now turn the call over to Tom for some additional insights on the quarter.