Slot management software leads to record 2Q Full House results

A small Las Vegas company capitalizing on technological advances it’s using in Colorado and Indiana reported record second-quarter results Tuesday.

With those successes validated by improved earnings, the company next plans to implement the Konami Gaming slot machine management system in its Nevada properties.

Full House Resorts Inc., a regional casino company led by President and CEO Dan Lee, reported net income of $5.5 million, 15 cents a share, on revenue of $47.4 million for the quarter that ended June 30.

In the same period a year earlier, the company reported a loss of $6.7 million, 25 cents a share, on revenue of $14.5 million.

“As with last quarter, our financial results continue to benefit from structural changes throughout the company,” Lee said. “Revenues in the second quarter of 2021 increased approximately 227 percent, reflecting the mandated closure of our properties for much of last year’s second quarter.”

In the call, Lee said that comparing this year’s results with last year’s is a meaningless comparison because most of the industry was shut down in the second quarter of 2020 during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Full House is focusing on being the market leader in Cripple Creek, Colorado, which attracts gamblers from Colorado Springs. The company is building the luxury Chamonix to join its other Cripple Creek property, Bronco Billy’s.

“We continue to believe that Colorado’s gaming markets — especially Cripple Creek — remain significantly under-penetrated and do not have enough guest rooms,” Lee said. “Recent hotel expansions in Cripple Creek and elsewhere in Colorado appear to be performing well. The development plan for our Chamonix site allows us to add an additional hotel wing. We are currently evaluating whether to build this additional hotel wing now, given the ease to do so while we construct the broader Chamonix project.”

Lee said the additional wing, if constructed, would increase the total size of the hotel by 23 percent to 370 rooms.

“We believe that it could be funded, along with the rest of the project, from our existing cash balances, which totaled $281.5 million at the end of the second quarter,” he said. “Such addition requires approvals from the Cripple Creek Historic Preservation Commission and Cripple Creek City Council.”

Full House also is capitalizing on the start-up of two new sports wagering “skins” during the quarter. Skins, sub-brands within sportsbooks, are valued at about $1 million of revenue a year. The company now has five of its six skins operational.

Full House, traded on the Nasdaq exchange, fell 27 cents, 3.2 percent, to close Tuesday at $8.12 a share in trading that was twice the normal volume. But the stock gained all of it back after hours, adding 28 cents, 3.4 percent, to end at $8.40 a share.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.