Despite recent choppiness in the market, “Las Vegas remains fundamentally solid,” MGM Resorts International President and CEO Bill Hornbuckle said in the company’s recent earnings call.
Earlier in the day, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority reported June numbers showing year-over-year visitor volume for the Las Vegas area dropped 11.3% and total occupancy on the Strip declined by 6.5%. Revenue per available room fell by 13.8% for the area and by 13.5% on the Strip.
There has been a great deal of talk about Las Vegas, Hornbuckle said on a call with analysts and investors. Over the last 30 years, the compounded annual growth rate in Las Vegas and gross gaming revenue have been close to 5%. The market hosts many of the world's biggest events and conventions.
One of the biggest fights in 10 years, the Canelo-Crawford fight in Allegiant Stadium, will happen this fall, he said. Paul McCartney will arrive in October, and the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix is in November with the best presales they’ve seen. College football championships start in January 2027, and the Final Four begins in 2028.
“Las Vegas is as solid as ever, and MGM couldn't be better positioned to benefit by all of it,” he said.
History gives the MGM Resorts team confidence, Hornbuckle said. The company saw a nine-week decline in bookings starting in May, but over the last month, those bookings have increased. In three of the last four weeks, there’s been growth.
“That gives us confidence as we think about August, September and into October, remembering that the booking cycle here is short,” he said. “I mean, 50% of our bookings come within 30-odd days.”
Explaining Las Vegas
The summer months are particularly reactionary, and July is expected to follow the same trend as June, Hornbuckle said. However, between programming, conventions and its partnership with Marriott International’s Bonvoy loyalty program, they believe the fourth quarter will show improvement.
The partnership, he said, continues to drive performance with high-quality customers and is on budget to book 900,000 room nights this year. Compared to last year, the collaboration led to a 31% increase in second-quarter bookings. Marriott guests spend about $150 per room more than all other customers. Year to date, it has averaged more than 20,000 nights books per week through this channel, and the pace has accelerated in July.
International visitation has been an issue in Las Vegas as it has been in other destinations, he said. Travel from Canada specifically has been an issue, and though the city hosts a lot of hockey games, visitation has been down.
The market has also seen lower visitation from Southern California than it has historically, he said.
“I think that’s a consideration that we all need to think about going forward as it relates to value- oriented customers and how to attract them and what to do,” he said. “We do feel solid about our ability to attract premium customers.”
Its luxury offerings with the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, the Bellagio Las Vegas and Aria continue to drive occupancy and yield from customers, he said. Even so, they need to keep an eye on value.
“We've followed the headlines, as I think many have in terms of the value equation, the value stories and what is being said about Las Vegas, and we did need to enhance upon that,” he said.
Las Vegas saw some large groups cycle out of the city in June and July this year, but they will come back in future years, Chief Operating Officer Corey Sanders said. The Las Vegas Convention Center is also under construction, and some competing cities had some of their convention spaces under construction as well.
“I think it was just a unique summer when it comes to convention business that we haven’t seen in the past,” he said.
Looking ahead, bookings are pacing up double-digits thanks to a robust 2026 convention calendar that includes the return of CONEXPO-CON/AGG, a construction trade show hosted in March. The city’s convention center is spending $1.6 billion in its renovation and expansion, and it remains on track to finish by the end of the year.
The city saw the groundbreaking for the new $1.8 billion Major League Baseball ballpark where the Tropicana used to stand, he said. That’s expected to bring 400,000 new visitors annually to the city. This completion of the ballpark will mean the city now has professional football, hockey and baseball teams, and all of the venues will be surrounded by MGM Resorts’ properties.
The $72 million decline in MGM Resorts’ adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and rental costs was due to two factors, Hornbuckle said. The first is that the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino accounted for 80% of that drop where results were affected by the uniquely disruptive room remodel and “severely abnormal” hold. The other was midweek weakness at two of the company’s value-oriented properties.
The MGM Grand represented $60 million of the difference in adjusted EBITDAR, with the majority coming from the room remodel and hold, Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Halkyard said. When excluding the MGM Grand, Las Vegas EBITDAR decreased about 2% in the quarter. The lower midweek visitation at its value-oriented properties has continued through July.
In response, the company is accelerating the timeline for the MGM Grand room remodel to have it completed by the end of October, he said. That will allow it to capitalize on the refreshed rooms in November for Formula 1’s return as well as the holiday season.
“When you also consider we've seen positive bookings in three of the last four weeks and solid bookings of groups and conventions that are in place for later in the year, we're optimistic about restoring a growth trajectory in Las Vegas during the fourth quarter that will carry on into 2026,” he said.
Regional and international updates
MGM Resort’s domestic regional properties stability during the second quarter helped during recent volatility, and they achieved their best second-quarter results in both net revenue and slot wins, Hornbuckle said.
“Three of our regional properties reported record-high ever net revenues, and we saw strong performance across the gaming, hotel and food and beverage segments,” he said.
MGM China saw record adjusted EBITDAR and market share of 16.6%, the highest sequential gain amongst all concessionaires, he said. The share increased every month in the quarter, ending June at 1.3 times its fair share of the market.
There are now 28 villas at MGM Macau available this month, he said. MGM Cotai has started converting standard rooms into 63 new suites with a goal of completing this project by the first quarter of 2026.
In Japan, the company saw the first pylon poured earlier this month for the MGM Osaka, which is expected to open in 2030, Hornbuckle said. It will be the sole licensee and operator, notable in a country with robust tourism and an appetite for gaming.
The Dubai project is starting to gather steam with an expected opening date in the second half of 2028, he said. In New York, the company submitted its application in June with hopes to be awarded one of the three available gaming licenses to be issued in December.
By the numbers
MGM Resorts reported consolidated net revenue of $4.4 billion, an increase of 2% year over year, according to its earnings release. Net income was $49 million, down from $187 million in 2024, due to the current quarter pre-tax impact of foreign currency transaction loss of $208 million mostly related to denominated debt held by a foreign subsidiary. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA reached $648 million, up from $635 million last year.
The company reported the Las Vegas Strip resorts achieved net revenue of $2.1 billion, down from $2.2 billion in the second quarter of 2024. Segment adjusted EBITDAR was $710 million, down from $782 million the year before. The properties reported occupancy of 93%, down from 97% a year ago. Average daily rate grew by 1% to $252, but revenue per available room was down 2% to $235. Overall rooms revenue dropped by 4% to $735 million.
At its domestic regional operations, net revenue reached $927 million, a 4% year-over-year increase. Segment adjusted EBITDAR increased 7% year over year to $309 million.
MGM China achieved net revenue of $1.1 billion, a 9% year-over-year increase. Segment adjusted EBITDAR was a loss of $26 million compared to a loss of $14 million last year.
As of press time, MGM Resorts' stock was trading at $35.71 a share, up 3.06% year to date. The NYSE Composite Index was up 8.11% for the same period.