Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc.

Ladies and Chairman, good morning and welcome to the Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star and zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Joe Jaffoning, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Ryan, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Gaming and Leisure Properties' first quarter 2024 earnings call-in webcast. The press release distributed yesterday afternoon is available on the Investor Relations section in our website at www.glpropinc.com. On today's call, management's prepared remarks and answers to your questions may contain forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements address matters that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed today. Forward-looking statements may include those related to revenue, operating income, and financial guidance, as well as non-GAAP financial measures such as FFO and AFFO. As a reminder, Forward-looking statements represent management's current estimates, and the company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements in the future. We encourage listeners to review the more detailed discussions related to the risk factors and forward-looking statements contained in the company's filing with the SEC, including the form 10-K and 10-K. and the earnings release, as well as the definitions and reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures contained in the company's earnings release. On this morning's call, we are joined by Peter Carlino, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Gaming and Leisure Properties. Also joining today's call are Brandon Moore, Chief Operating Officer, General Counsel and Secretary, Desiree Burke, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, Steve Ladney, Senior Vice President, Chief Development Officer, and Matthew Demchek, Senior Vice President, Chief Investment Officer. With that, it's my pleasure to turn the call over to Peter Carlino. Peter, please go ahead.

Well, thanks, Joe, and good morning, everyone. As usual, let me call your attention to my written comments in our release, which highlight that this has been a steady quarter for us during which we strengthened our balance sheet, in anticipation for what we would hope to deliver through the balance of this year. In the last paragraph of my comment, from which I'll briefly quote, in 2023, we completed over $1.1 billion of transactions, including over $760 million of traditional real estate acquisitions and $337 million of loan funding commitments. The overall 2023 transaction value, despite a challenged market environment, reflects our creativity in creating comprehensive financing solutions for our tenant partners. Our 2023 addition set the stage for financial growth in 2024 and beyond. So that I can say that, look, we're – We're now working on a number of transactions, both small and larger, and I think most of you recognize that what we do is highly complex, and it requires a great deal of careful structuring and often regulatory approval. Nonetheless, we expect that our performance will level out acceptably well, as it always has over the balance of this year and beyond, so we feel pretty good about that. final gratuitous comment I'll throw in that as a large shareholder, I couldn't be more delighted with the growth in our dividends over these last years and our announcement this quarter as well. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Desiree Burke to make some comment. Desiree.