Caesars Entertainment, Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Caesars Entertainment Inc. 2023 first quarter earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you'll need to press star 1-1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Brian Agnew, Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance, Treasury, and Investor Relations.

Thank you, Josh, and good afternoon to everyone on the call. Welcome to our conference call to discuss our first quarter 2023 earnings. This afternoon, we issued a press release announcing our financial results. for the period ended March 31st, 2023. 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, Brett Yunker, our Chief Financial Officer, and Eric Keshen, President of Caesars Sports and Online Gaming. 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 measure is 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 2023 first quarter financial results. I will now turn the call over to Anthony Carano.

Thank you, Brian, and good afternoon to everyone on the call. We had a strong start to 2023 in the first quarter. Our Las Vegas segment delivered a Q1 EBITDA and EBITDA margin record, and our regional segment reported a strong quarter, excluding weather disruptions in northern Nevada. In addition, our digital segment was nearly break-even, despite launching sports betting in two states during the quarter. Trends in Las Vegas remained strong during Q1, delivering 24% revenue growth and 33% EBITDA growth versus last year. Excluding real rent payments, Las Vegas generated $544 million of adjusted EBITDA with a margin of 48%, up 300 basis points versus last year. Occupancy during Q1 was 95% versus 83% the prior year. Strong occupancy in ADRs led to record in cash hotel revenues and food and beverage results. Our group and convention segment also delivered an all-time EBITDA record in Q1 and represented 21% of occupied rooms during the quarter, setting a new quarterly record for convention mix. Our forward outlook for the group and convention segment remains exceptionally strong driven by a continued combination of increasing room nights higher ADRs, and strong banquet revenues. In our regional segment, we delivered 2% revenue growth and a 2% decline in adjusted EBITDA versus last year. As Tom will discuss in more detail, our regional segment was negatively impacted by severe winter weather in northern Nevada. However, trends outside of northern Nevada remained strong during the quarter, delivering EBITDA growth year over year. We remain encouraged by the early returns we are seeing on recently completed capital projects, including the expansion and rebrand of Horseshoe Indianapolis, the expansion and rebrand of Harrah's Pompano Beach, and the new land-based Horseshoe Lake Charles. The success of these projects gives us further confidence in the return potential of our ongoing growth projects. We remain on track to open a temporary facility in Danville, Virginia on May 15th, and in Columbus, Nebraska by the end of Q2. Our expansion at Harris Hoosier Park is slated to open in Q3 of this year. The majority of our CapEx spend in AC is nearing completion, and we're looking forward to launching our new entertainment offering, The Hook by Spiegel World, this summer. Work on our $430 million expansion in New Orleans continues and is slated to be completed toward the end of 2024. And finally, we announced yesterday that we are transforming the former Jubilee Tower at Horseshoe Las Vegas into the new Versailles Tower at Paris Las Vegas. This $100 million rebrand and upgrade is included in our 2023 CapEx plans and slated to be completed this year. We're off to a great start in 23, and I want to thank all of our team members for their hard work in this first quarter. Our results are a reflection of their dedication to delivering exceptional guest service and experiences. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Eric for some insights on the first quarter in our digital segment.