MGM Resorts International - Earnings Call - Q1 2025

Executive Summary

• Q1 2025 consolidated net revenues were $4.277B (-2% YoY) and Adjusted EPS was $0.69 vs $0.74 YoY; MGM delivered a significant EPS beat versus S&P Global consensus ($0.69 vs $0.447) but a slight revenue miss ($4.277B vs $4.284B). Bold beats/misses driven by Marriott channel strength, record occupancy/slot win, and insurance proceeds; revenue miss driven by tough Super Bowl comp depressing ADR.
• Las Vegas Strip achieved record Q1 occupancy (94%) and slot win (+7% YoY), with Marriott bookings accelerating; April was tracking to a record hotel month, supporting forward demand.
• BetMGM venture reported a positive EBITDA of $22M and net revenue growth (+34% YoY) in Q1; MGM’s reported equity share remains a modest loss due to lagged recognition, but venture profitability is a clear positive inflection.
• Capital returns accelerated: 15M shares repurchased in Q1 for $494M, and Board authorized a new $2B buyback; management continued repurchases into Q2, citing attractive implied multiples (~3.3x trailing domestic Adjusted EBITDA).

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• Record Strip occupancy and slot win: “April is on track to be a record hotel month for our Las Vegas Strip operations,” with Q1 occupancy 94% and slot win +7% YoY, supported by Marriott channel.
• BetMGM inflection: venture EBITDA turned positive ($22M), with net revenues up 34% and iGaming +27%/online sports +68%, reflecting improved engagement and disciplined acquisition.
• MGM China resilience and capital returns: margin discipline (28%) and dividend policy increased to 50% of distributable profits; continued large-scale buybacks reflect confidence in valuation.

What Went Wrong

• Tough comp and ADR pressure: Las Vegas non-gaming revenue and ADR were down due to prior-year Super Bowl impact; Strip net revenues fell 3% YoY, and RevPAR declined 6%.
• Digital drag ex-BetMGM: MGM Digital segment EBITDAR loss widened to -$34M (from -$19M) given strategic growth hiring and Brazil launch costs; regulatory headwinds in the Netherlands.
• FX and non-operating volatility: large FX transaction losses (+$0.34 adjustment) and fair value hedging swings (-$0.14) were key drivers in non-GAAP EPS adjustments, adding noise to GAAP.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good afternoon, and welcome to the MGM Resorts International first quarter 2025 earnings conference call. Joining the call from the company today are Bill Hornbuckle, Chief Executive Officer and President; Corey Sanders, Chief Operating Officer; Jonathan Halkyard, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer; Gary Fritz, President of MGM Interactive; Kenneth Feng, Executive Director and President of MGM China Holdings; and Howard Wang, Vice President, Investor Relations. Participants are in listen-only mode. After the company's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. In fairness to all participants, please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. Please note, this conference is being recorded. Now, I would like to turn the call over to Howard Wang. Please go ahead.

Howard Wang (VP of Investor Relations)

Thank you, Gary. Welcome to the MGM Resorts International First Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. This call is being broadcast live on the internet at investors.mgmresorts.com, and we have also furnished our press release on Form 8-K to the SEC. On this call, we will make forward-looking statements under the safe harbor provisions of the federal securities laws. Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated in these statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements is contained in today's press release and in our periodic filings with the SEC. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or otherwise. During the call, we will also discuss non-GAAP financial measures when talking about performance.

You can find the reconciliation to GAAP financial measures in our press release and investor presentation, which are available on our website. Finally, this presentation is being recorded. I will now turn it over to Bill Hornbuckle.

Bill Hornbuckle (CEO and President)

Thank you, Howard. Before we get started, on behalf of everyone at MGM, our condolences go out to the family, friends, colleagues, and all those who are impacted by the passing of Alexis Herman, our beloved and longtime MGM Resorts Board Director and the first African American to serve as U.S. Secretary of Labor. Alexis was an incredible woman and a tireless champion of our company and our culture, helping us to ground every board deliberation with her compassion, her sound judgment, and valued business expertise. She was always so generous with her time, providing individual career mentorship to myself and many other leaders at MGM and throughout our community. As a public servant, she will always be remembered for her hard work to secure low unemployment, safe work conditions, and a global standard for child labor, opening doors for individual pursuits and advancement of livelihoods.

Her life's work touched so many, and she truly will be greatly missed. We at MGM are fortunate to have a foundation built on exceptional employees and leaders, and I'm pleased to share with you today that the efforts have driven yet another strong quarter of financial results highlighted by an impressive turnaround at BetMGM. Make no mistake, our ability to deliver outstanding experiences to our customers and strong results to our shareholders start with my colleagues across MGM Resorts, who have maintained record-level Net Promoter Scores for our Gold Plus customers once again this quarter. Their collective hard work culminated in a notable milestone this month when our MGM Rewards program crossed 50 million members, which represents growth of over 50% since 2020.

An achievement that reflects the staying power of MGM's iconic brands and our powerful customer insights, which can amplify the Marriott partnership and drive omnichannel opportunities, particularly with BetMGM. I'm confident in saying no other mature gaming company has seen the database growth as strong as we have over this same period. As we navigate the balance of the year, our business is on solid footing. Led by our luxury offerings, we deliver an elevated experience to more guests than any of our competitors on the Las Vegas Strip, making us prime beneficiaries of a strong citywide events and convention calendar. Our business is also equipped with ample liquidity, a strong balance sheet, and operational agility. Specifically, our experienced operators and leaders have shown the ability to adjust quickly in varying economic conditions, which have presented themselves throughout the company's lifespan of nearly four decades.

We entered this year on offense with a $200 million EBITDA enhancement plan already in motion. We now believe we fully can implement more than $150 million in 2025. We are also seeing continued growth from our existing exclusive Marriott collaboration, which we still expect will account for 900,000 room nights this year, up from the 660,000 last year. Adding to these are diversity in geography and market mixes once again proving to be a strength during these times of volatility. To set up in Las Vegas remains steady with a favorable room supply dynamic, as current rooms under construction represent only 1.6% of the existing supply among the lowest of the top 25 MSAs. Additionally, second quarter 2025 airline capacity at Harry Reid International Airport remains scheduled at record levels.

Domestic flight capacity in each month from April to June is up 2%, with 14 of the 25 largest metro markets increasing capacity into Las Vegas. Our Las Vegas Strip resorts were solid despite the prior periods benefiting from the Super Bowl and the full room capacity at MGM Grand given its current room remodel program. As we approach the end of April, we continue to see a resilient operating environment with key metrics in line with what we would expect in the ordinary course of business. In fact, April will be a record hotel month for our Las Vegas Strip operations. In our regional properties, operations remain steady with only a modest decline in revenue due to some inclement weather. Importantly, we ended the period strong with records for the month of March in RevPAR and Slot Win.

Also, we have once again shown the ability to generate segment-adjusted EBITDA margins at or above 30%. Switching over to China, MGM China is maintaining mid-teen share, ending the quarter at 15.7%, even with new supply ramping up in the market. We continue to be proud, and we are able to debut 10 new villas at MGM Macau today, with another 18 opening by the end of the year. At MGM Cotai, we are in the process of adding 60 new suites that are targeting a first quarter 2026 opening. These are welcome new room products that will help support demand from our premium gaming customers. As solid as our various business segments have performed, the spotlight shined brightest on BetMGM this quarter.

The venture reported an increase in net revenue from operations of 34% for the quarter and EBITDA of $22 million, representing a tremendous improvement of over $150 million from the prior year period. iGaming net revenues for operating grew 27%, and online sports net revenues from operations grew 68%, each on the heels of strong engagement improvement. We have previously discussed the focus on iGaming and a more thoughtful and profitable approach towards customer acquisition, and the team has executed on it impressively for the year-over-year turnaround. MGM Digital, our consolidated international digital business that does not include the BetMGM venture, made great progress during the quarter as well, with the launch in Brazil and our first deployment of sports betting platform that we acquired from Tipico last year. In Brazil, we have seen evidence of early traction with healthy retention rates.

Also, having a fantastic media partner like Grupo Globo has provided flexibility in marketing, allowing us to be very deliberate on entry. We are focused on executing our marketing plan throughout the second quarter as this business continues to ramp, and we're excited to launch our live dealer platform from the MGM Grand later in May. In Japan, we've made meaningful progress. Earlier this month, we entered into an agreement with our general contractors to proceed with construction activities as planned, and we held an official ground-breaking ceremony in Osaka on April 24th. Stateside, we remain on track to submit our RFP in New York over the summer and continue to expect to hear back on our licenses before year's end. Overall, MGM is well positioned for the future.

We have market-leading operations in Las Vegas and the regions, and the resorts have received significant investment and care over most recent years. Our digital businesses in the U.S. and beyond are growing and turning profitable, and we have an inevitable pipeline of future project opportunities in Japan and hopefully New York, as well as a durable financial profile, including ample liquidity and a very solid balance sheet. I'll now turn this over to Jonathan to provide further details on the quarter.

Jonathan Halkyard (CFO and Treasurer)

Thanks, Bill. I'd like to echo your comments about our team here at MGM Resorts. We've delivered a really strong quarter of results despite a difficult year-over-year Super Bowl comp and overall market volatility. These results are a testament to the strength of our operators, the teams who support them, and our employees who execute with excellence every day. A huge thanks to the team. In Las Vegas, performance was solid, particularly when taking into account our expected year-over-year impact of about $65 million related to the Super Bowl last year, plus the impact from the room remodel at the MGM Grand this year, which we discussed in our last call. Segment-adjusted EBITDA was down $17 million and included $37 million in business interruption proceeds during the quarter. When considering the puts and takes of the quarter, we more than made up for the headwinds.

The value of the Marriott strategic relationships was notable this quarter, helping to achieve record first-quarter occupancy. The incremental customers also helped drive record first-quarter slot win, which was up 7%. The regional operations held in well, and when adjusted for the $12 million of business interruption proceeds we received, the EBITDA decline was mostly attributed to challenging weather at the start of the quarter. The regional operators ended the quarter on a high note, as Bill mentioned, with record March slot win. RevPAR and the regional hotel portfolio impressed, hitting monthly records for each month during the quarter. In Macau, margins held in at 28% due to strong OpEx control and other efforts to maximize the efficiency of our assets.

The result was also notable given the advent of several very successful initiatives to drive tourism, including the Macau 2049 Residency Show at Cotai and the Poly Art Museum at MGM Macau. Importantly, MGM China increased its dividend payout policy to 50% of distributable profits, up from 35%. Earlier this month, MGM China closed on a new, larger revolving credit facility, which provides about $3 billion of liquidity and represents approximately $1 billion of increased capacity and extends maturities for four years to 2030. BetMGM continued its acceleration in the first quarter, reported positive $22 million of EBITDA. That's up $154 million from last year. It's worth noting that the prior year was impacted by a number of headwinds, but these results reflect a strong execution against the strategy and the start of its returns.

The business is healthy, and it remains on track for its guidance of $2.4 billion-$2.5 billion in net revenues from operations this year and positive EBITDA. Recall that the BetMGM results are reflected one month in arrears when recorded in the MGM Resorts results. MGM Digital, which is our consolidated international digital business, and it does not include BetMGM, continues to make progress. Revenues in this segment were impacted by adverse effects of regulations in the Netherlands and some tough comps in our largest market, Sweden, though we have seen some meaningful recovery starting in April. The year-over-year segment-adjusted EBITDA decline for MGM Digital was anticipated due to additional headcount for strategic growth, as well as costs related to the launch of BetMGM in Brazil, where we have increased our marketing momentum to start the second quarter.

We note that this quarter, we provided quarterly historical data in our investor presentation for the MGM Digital segment to help with your modeling. In Japan, MGM's equity commitment has increased to JPY 428 billion, of which we now have remaining about JPY 392 billion to invest for our future 43.5% ownership stake. Despite the increase driven by updated spend estimates as we finalized our negotiations with contractors, we still have a high conviction and a high teens percentage return on this project and remain on time to open in 2030. One item impacting corporate expense I want to highlight is a $9 million charitable donation that we proudly made during the quarter for an important City of Las Vegas initiative that makes the balance slightly elevated, but otherwise, this line item is consistent with our historical levels. We remain dedicated to continuously improve our business.

Recall, we estimate the collective impact of enhancements that we announced last year will boost EBITDA by a run rate of $200 million, and we're now pacing to capture more than $150 million taking effect this calendar year, 35% of which comes from revenue actions and 65% from cost savings. Now, I view our cash flow generation as our consolidated adjusted EBITDA plus our non-cash rent minus our CapEx. This not only provides us the ability to remain committed to all of our capital projects, but also take advantage of any dislocations in our stock price as a result of market volatility. Like we did in the fourth quarter, we saw significant value in our share price in the first quarter, and we took advantage by repurchasing shares.

When you strip out the value of MGM China at its market value and assign a consensus value to our BetMGM venture, you end up with an implied multiple of just 3.3 times trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA. To say nothing of the value of MGM Digital, the business we know is capable of a billion dollars in run rate top line with double-digit EBITDA margins. We think the current price represents an attractive opportunity and have continued to buy back stock. We repurchased nearly 15 million shares for about $494 million in the first quarter, and we purchased another 8 million shares in the second quarter to date for $215 million. As we end April, our share count is nearly 45% lower than it was when we began our buying program, and we've received board approval for the ability to repurchase another $2 billion of shares.

I'll turn it back to Bill.

Bill Hornbuckle (CEO and President)

Thank you, Jonathan. When I think about our business, it starts in Las Vegas, which remains on solid footing with our luxury offerings driving key results. This is complemented by the stability of the regional operations and MGM China, which clearly is now outpunching its weight and maintains mid-teens market share. We've also witnessed significant improvements in our BetMGM venture results, and with the MGM Digital segment, it's showing good early traction. As Jonathan once again articulated, we see a dislocation in the markets for the combined value of these businesses and are taking advantage by repurchasing our own shares. With that, operator, we'll open it up for questions.

Operator (participant)

We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. As a reminder, in all fairness, please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. The first question is from Brandt Montour with Barclays. Please go ahead.

Brandt Montour (Director of Equity Research)

Hello, everybody. Thanks for taking my question, and thanks for all the details today on the call. The first question is about Las Vegas. Obviously, really reassuring commentary about April and how that's tracking. I was wondering if you could just unpack that April comment in terms of the major KPIs. Which of those KPIs are growing stronger, which are a little weaker? How do you think about April?

Bill Hornbuckle (CEO and President)

Sure. Jonathan, you want to kick it off?

Jonathan Halkyard (CFO and Treasurer)

Sure. Yeah. I mean, the first thing that we look at is just overall demand, as evidenced by things like hotel occupancy and rate. As we mentioned in our prepared remarks, April in Las Vegas is shaping up to be a record April for the company, which is, we think, very positive. Another area that we look to is group performance and event performance. Also, we've seen very strong response to events here in the market and our property specifically, as well as groups, and the actual number of group participants that materialize and come here and spend. The final thing I'd add is that Marriott, the Marriott partnership for us, is performing exceptionally well. We already have, just through April, 440,000 room nights that have been booked. You'll do the math.

It's over 20,000 room nights a week are being booked through the Marriott channel, and these are customers that we think are very accretive as compared to the customers that they've replaced. A couple of thoughts on that. Bill, did you have anything?

Bill Hornbuckle (CEO and President)

Yeah. Maybe one other thought, Brent, that kind of puts it into some perspective. Normally, we book about 40% of our business 30 days out. That window is extended both in March and April to like 43% and 44%, something of that ilk. We still got to the desired result. In April, we actually, in the rooms department, beat that, both a combination of OC and rate of note. While it may be coming in later based on, obviously, the overall economic condition of people's mindset in the world, it is still coming to Las Vegas, and we're still the beneficiary of it. We feel excited by that, as we think of excited, thinking about the right word, given the environment we're in. We're encouraged by that, given, as we think about the balance of the year.

Jonathan Halkyard (CFO and Treasurer)

The only other thing I would add is our slot volumes continue to be positive, as we saw in the first quarter.

Brandt Montour (Director of Equity Research)

Great. That's all really helpful, everyone. Just following up on that, and maybe you could just square this with everything everyone sees on the news, etc., but specifically with regarding international inbound, it's been pretty well documented that inbound from Canada has been soft and some other major source markets that you guys get business from. Specifically regarding your higher end, which we would think would skew even more toward that type of business, how are you able to make up for that?

Jonathan Halkyard (CFO and Treasurer)

On the higher end, it's not really having any impact at all. Actually, we just had an amazing event in April with our higher-end component of it. It's really the leisure-type business, the Canadian business that is down, but we've been able to make it up in our Marriott blocks and in our casino blocks.

Bill Hornbuckle (CEO and President)

WestJet's the biggest carrier. They're down about 15%, but we're only down about 3% or 4%. Obviously, it's down, and we all understand what's happening again. Marriott, large-scale casino base, BetMGM consistently, omnichannel pounding, and ultimately, a once-in-a-lifetime baccarat turnover of $10 million helped.

Brandt Montour (Director of Equity Research)

Excellent. Thanks, everyone.

Operator (participant)

The next question is from Carlo Santarelli with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

Carlo Santarelli (Managing Director)

Hey, guys. Thank you. It looks like in your filings, you disclosed, obviously, some of your payroll and labor, and your over-year increases appear to be less than some of the escalators. Could we kind of read into that, that part of that is the efforts as part of the $150 million that you expect to achieve this year, or is that kind of in excess of, or is this kind of a separate initiative, I guess I should say?

Jonathan Halkyard (CFO and Treasurer)

Generally, yes. You can read into that that is, I guess, really a result of our continuous efforts to manage our costs here. It's certainly true that we've been able to manage growth in FTEs across the company. In fact, in the first quarter, we were down in FTEs across our regions, Las Vegas and our corporate office. We can't tie those numbers to any specific actions we've taken. The fact of the matter is that we're always managing our labor expenses, and you're seeing a reflection of that.

Corey Sanders (COO)

Carl, I think in the front end of our business, we're beginning to see more and more digital interaction, whether it's concierges or call centers, people calling down for, "I want a pillow for my room." The digital interface, which is probably carrying 80% of the traffic now, at least initially, and ultimately, a small spattering, although we're going to get more and more of AI, is proven to be very productive. We're going to continue down that track.

Carlo Santarelli (Managing Director)

Great. Thank you, guys. Just clerical kind of follow-ups. As it relates to the business interruption insurance, is that in revenue and EBITDA or just EBITDA? Could you give us any color?

Corey Sanders (COO)

I know this is hard to handicap, but on any further proceeds you might expect to receive later in the year or in subsequent years, or is this kind of wrapping it up?

Jonathan Halkyard (CFO and Treasurer)

Yeah. It's in EBITDA. It's not recorded as revenue. We have now collected over $100 million, of course, a lot in the third quarter last year and then another good slug this quarter. We're not finished. We're still in active discussions with our carriers, and we do have significant claims remaining. That being said, I think we've received the majority, I would say over 50% of what we expect. It will be, I think, lumpy from here on out and not as significant as we've collected so far. We're very pleased having brought $100 million in for our shareholders over the past six months.

Corey Sanders (COO)

Great. Thank you, guys.

Operator (participant)

The next question is from David Katz with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

David Katz (Managing Director)

Good morning. Yeah, afternoon, everybody, I think. I wanted to just follow up on the comments regarding Japan. And it says that you've sort of locked in with your contractor. Just in the context that materials availability and cost has become a discussion point, what variability is left in that from this point forward, given the size of the project?

Bill Hornbuckle (CEO and President)

Yeah. Thank you for the question, David. We've been hard at work with our partners, with the contractors, to, of course, define the project itself, get it designed, and nail down the major contracts. On the one hand, there will be some variability in terms of costs as we go forward related just to overall input costs. We've done, I think, a good job of building in contingency into our budget for that potential. On the other hand, unlike other parts of the world, really, before we even commence on a project like this in the coming quarters, the project will be fully designed. In terms of scope, we don't expect that to be a factor at all in any changes in the cost of the project. Just a couple more items.

We, together with our partners, are going to be looking, as we go forward, for opportunities to be as cost-efficient as possible in the construction. Finally, for our equity commitment, we have already hedged over half of our commitment in the forward yen markets to lock in some of these favorable exchange rates against the dollar and the yen. We are fully hedged through the middle of 2027 in terms of our equity contributions.

Corey Sanders (COO)

David, on the other side of the equation, because we haven't really focused on this in some time, we said in the prepared comments, high teens return. Look, if we use Singapore as a proxy, a couple of interesting stats. Five times more of the population, if you just think of the Kansai Basin, never mind all of Japan. We have the same number of table games. We'll have twice the number of slots. Singapore just did over $600 million in the first quarter. To think this thing can't, five years from now, or four and five years from now, that's 2030, do over $2 billion in EBITDA in return is we're excited by what the opportunity could ultimately be there.

David Katz (Managing Director)

Noted. Just following up quickly on your comment regarding the Bonvoy partnership, it sounds like it's going, obviously, quite well. I don't know if that's exceeded or meeting your expectations, but any possibility or thoughts about expanding that in some fashion going forward that you might be willing to share a little bit with us?

Corey Sanders (COO)

It's exceeded it. I think you know this by the deal. We've obviously committed to W. Over the first 10 years, we have yet another property here in Las Vegas we need to commit. We are spending time and energy eventually thinking about that. Tony and I have talked briefly about the notion of international and potentially where this relationship could go, whether it's Japan or other places. We will spend some more time thinking about that, but there's nothing definitive. Notionally, we love this partnership so far. All things considered.

Bill Hornbuckle (CEO and President)

I would, David, I just add there has been one, I consider it an important expansion in the partnership recently, which is the inclusion of group customers here in Las Vegas, where now, if you're coming as part of a big meeting or convention and you're staying with us, you can get your Bonvoy points. That makes us a very appealing destination for meeting planners and not to mention the participants themselves. I think that's going to really help turbocharge the production out of the Marriott deal.

David Katz (Managing Director)

Got it. Thanks and good evening.

Operator (participant)

The next question is from Shaun Kelley with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Shaun Kelley (Senior Research Analyst and Managing Director)

Hi, good evening, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. Bill or Jonathan, wanted to expand just to maybe wrap up on Japan since we were talking about it. Could you just remind us of the overall budget, either in dollars or in yen, for the project as we sit here today, just sort of a housekeeper there and the let-out of your equity contribution there just again for kind of modeling? The strategic question would be on New York. We obviously saw one of the large participants in the market here sort of change their programming or planning around that. We've definitely heard other people discussing sort of their strategy to that market. Where does MGM sit as it relates to New York? Thanks.

Corey Sanders (COO)

You do Japan. I'm thinking of.

David Katz (Managing Director)

Yeah. In terms of the overall cap table for the project right now, our commitment of JPY 428 billion, oh, sorry, billion yen, is about a 43.5% equity interest. Our partners, ORIX, and then minority shareholders make up the balance of that. We have a JPY 530 billion credit facility on the project. That is the cap table as it stands right now. We expect our contributions to occur over the next four years, including 2025, about $600 million-$700 million per year. The credit, along with our equity partners, and the bank facility will kick in at that point in 2028 and carry the funding through to the opening in 2030. That is just kind of a rough overview.

Corey Sanders (COO)

On New York, we are planning to make our submission at the end of June, which I think we all understand is the date. We have not changed appreciably the plan. We like what we came up with. I think we are comfortable with the city. We are going through and got most of our environmental impact study done, etc. We really have not changed the plan. It is of interest. We watch where the others are going and potentially where they will go. It is our anticipation there will still be three licenses. We will take a unique position, I think we always have there. It is all things being relative and see what happens. You never know. It is New York. We will make our submission next month or end of next month.

Shaun Kelley (Senior Research Analyst and Managing Director)

Thanks so much. Just to change gears for a second on MGM Digital, I think I caught that it sounds like you're going into a little bit of a marketing phase there in Brazil. Could you just remind us of maybe the cadence of investment around, especially this year, as I think it's a little lumpy as you're kind of building out that business versus kind of what maybe your exposure or your process is for the year after? Just help us think about the investment period here.

Gary Fritz (President of MGM Interactive)

Yeah. Thanks. Things are starting off terrific in Brazil. We've been live since Q1. In terms of the pacing of investment, we believe that the first half of this year, probably bleeding over a little bit into Q3, is the core of our marketing deployment. We probably got off to a little bit slower start than we anticipated, so that may shift out by a month or so. Principally, the real marketing dig against the business will occur over, let's call it, the next six months. We will see those investments begin to tether. That's the current plan.

Shaun Kelley (Senior Research Analyst and Managing Director)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

The next question is from Stephen Grambling with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Stephen Grambling (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Hey, thanks. I think over the past four years, your purchases have been about almost now 95% of the current market cap. You also highlighted the discounted EV multiples on the domestic business. I'm curious, are there other opportunities to create value either by monetizing assets or simplifying the story that you're thinking about or that you would think about if the stock stays rangebound?

Bill Hornbuckle (CEO and President)

Yeah. Thanks for that question. We have seen a tremendous opportunity recently just in repurchasing our own shares. I mean, we put a page in the presentation this quarter that we've done from time to time, but really, the situation with the trading in the stock has just presented us with, we think, a fantastic opportunity to repurchase shares for the shareholders. I mean, you brought up ways to kind of monetize that. If you look not too far in the past where we were able to sell Gold Strike and Tunica for, I think that was about 11 times EBITDA, the Mirage for, I think it was 14 or 15 times EBITDA. Now we can buy the Bellagio and Aria for three times EBITDA. We think that that's a pretty good use of capital. That's why we've been so aggressive in the past four months.

Corey Sanders (COO)

Steven, remember, I suspect you do that Northfield Park and Springfield are ongoing discussions. Those are assets that we've been talking about for a while.

Stephen Grambling (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Yeah. Makes sense. Maybe one quick follow-up. Just on the digital side, I guess, is there any way to think about the contribution from an omnichannel standpoint, the benefits that you're getting outside of just BetMGM individually, but how it may benefit the retail business as well or the brick-and-mortar business?

Gary Fritz (President of MGM Interactive)

Yeah. Look, we certainly see beyond just the direct benefits between the marketing synergy and the synergies with our host teams here in Vegas helping BetMGM. On the regional side, I mean, it's just like another reason for folks to be an MGM customer in region is the fact that they can continue that relationship with us both in their on-property play and play at home. We've built the rewards ecosystem to underscore that. We have event programming around that to encourage customers for their play in both channels. That's really borne fruit in markets like Detroit and in the capital area as well.

Kenneth Feng (Executive Director and President)

What we have seen definitely in this quarter in particular, trips up pretty significantly in our spend. It is on a little bit lower base, but they are pretty significant numbers we are beginning to see out of that channel.

Stephen Grambling (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Great. Thank you so much.

Operator (participant)

The next question is from John DeCree with CBRE. Please go ahead.

John DeCree (Head of Institutional Investor Research)

Hi. Good afternoon, everyone.

Jonathan, maybe for you to piggyback on that last question, can you talk a little bit about how you think of share repurchases going forward as CapEx starts to ramp up? I think if I heard correctly, your equity contribution for Japan would be about $600 million-$700 million per year beginning this year, and New York may be around the corner if you're lucky enough for that opportunity. How should we think about your approach to balance sheet management and repurchasing as that CapEx steps up a little bit? I guess the specific question there is, would you let leverage go up a little bit to take advantage of all the opportunities in front of you if they should stay this way?

Jonathan Halkyard (CFO and Treasurer)

Yeah. I've probably been saying for six quarters that our pace of share repurchases was going to come down slightly, and we haven't really done that just because we've looked at the math, some of which I just went through and said, "This is a really compelling opportunity." That being said, yeah, our Japan equity investments are now closer. New York is coming closer. It will be important for our own planning to reserve some capital for those investments. I would not be adverse to letting leverage tick up a little bit in order to fund some of these opportunities. We do enjoy the diversification of our operations here in Las Vegas and the regional markets. We have a nice dividend flow at MGM China, and we are really not investing any more capital in BetMGM or MGM Digital for that matter.

Those investments are behind us, and those businesses are really primed to grow. I do think that for the remainder of this year, we'll not be as aggressive as we've been in the first four months, just recognizing some of the things that are in front of us right now.

John DeCree (Head of Institutional Investor Research)

Got it. Understood. That's helpful, Jonathan. If I could, for a follow-up, change gears to Macau a little bit. We've asked a lot of questions on this call previously about Vegas and indicators that you see there as it relates to domestic demand. We probably have similar questions as it relates to Macau and the Chinese consumer. Curious if you could give us any insight as to what you're seeing really since the beginning of the month when the tariffs went into effect, if there's been much change in how you're booking business and kind of visitation levels that you're seeing in Macau. Anything you could share would be helpful.

Corey Sanders (COO)

Kenny, you're living it every day. Why don't you take this?

Yeah. Okay. Thanks for the question. So far, we are not seeing any material impacts. We are continuing to closely monitor the situation. In Q1, our business was resilient, and we saw our market share. As we all know, the China government is taking all kinds of measures, policies to spur the economy. Macau is resilient. The Macau market is resilient. It is unique. We see our business is quite stable. Actually, today is the first day of a golden week, and we had a pretty good, stronger pre-holiday week. Today is the first day. Our booking is pretty strong. We feel confident for these upcoming holidays.

John DeCree (Head of Institutional Investor Research)

Thanks, Tim. I appreciate it. Thanks all.

Operator (participant)

The next question is from Barry Jonas with Truist. Please go ahead.

Barry Jonas (Managing Director)

Hey, guys. With the likelihood of higher tariffs, could you talk a little bit more about how that could impact operations and budgets for some of your domestic development pipeline?

Bill Hornbuckle (CEO and President)

Right now, it's hard to see how it would have much of an impact on the development pipeline. We've been focused more in the near term on its potential impact on just cost of sales and operational considerations, and it's quite a small impact. We've done virtually all of our slot purchases for the year. We have alternatives as it relates to some of the consumables that might be subject to tariffs. We think we can manage that impact considerably during the year. The same goes on our technology investments. We've done a lot of that in the past 18 months, things like PC refreshes and those types of things. That will be a very limited impact. I don't really see much of an impact that's going to have on our development ambitions, at least in the next year or so.

Corey Sanders (COO)

I mean, Barry, the only thing on the obvious horizon is New York that would be domestic. We're not building a high rise, so even the steel will be de minimis.

Barry Jonas (Managing Director)

Got it. Got it. Okay. Just for a follow-up, Bill, I saw you were out in UAE recently. Can you maybe talk about next steps there for the hotel in Dubai and any gaming opportunities? Just also interesting to see Barry Diller was with you. Is that strictly from a board perspective, or are there maybe some ways you can work closer with IAC? Thank you.

Corey Sanders (COO)

Look, we've worked closely with IAC ever since the inception of their investment. I mean, Joey has been instrumental in some of our digital business, and Barry, ultimately, with creative and the content pieces of our business. It has always been integrated in that context. They're very active board members, and we enjoy that. Actually, Paul Salem, Barry, and myself, and one other individual on our team who's been kind of overriding this thing for the last couple of years, a gentleman named Ari Kastrati, went out there.

Key mission was to see the prints and to update him on our project, tell him the opportunity that we thought it could bring, not only in the context of a fully integrated resort like we're building, MGM, Aria, Bellagio, but the potential gaming could bring to not only UAE, but Dubai specifically, and the whole notion of entertainment and the kind of unique things that we could bring to the city. It was a great conversation. It's completely in their hands. This is just like the States. It's in the province of any one of the individual rulers to determine whether they want gaming or not. They haven't said yes. They haven't said no. We are building an environment that can accommodate it. That building is due to complete third quarter of 2027. We're literally up on the fifth floor of the MGM Tower as we speak.

It is a pretty exciting building. It is an exciting project, a truly interesting resort with all kinds of features. Hopefully, we will get to add gaming. The ball truly now, having made this, taking this, and them receiving us, is in their court.

Barry Jonas (Managing Director)

Great. Thank you so much.

Operator (participant)

The final question today is from Chad Beynon with Macquarie. Please go ahead.

Chad Beynon (Managing Director and Analyst)

Hi. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. Just wanted to circle back a little bit on some of the Vegas comments around non-gaming. Bill, you mentioned the impact from Marriott just from kind of a qualitative level. Were non-gaming KPIs up if we think about excluding the Super Bowl from a year-over-year standpoint, whether we're thinking about January, March, or just kind of taking out that $65 million impact? Just trying to get a sense of if you're seeing any sensitivity given where prices are on some of the food and beverage, shopping, etc., at your properties. Thank you.

Corey Sanders (COO)

It really no change in trend during the quarter as it relates to non-gaming spend. No, things like entertainment spend kind of ebb and flow with the number of events that are going on in town. As it relates to spend per cover in our food and beverage or retail, those trends were all pretty consistent during the quarter.

If you take the Super Bowl out of it, our revenue for occupied rooms actually up about 3%.

Chad Beynon (Managing Director and Analyst)

Okay. Perfect. Thanks, Corey.

Corey Sanders (COO)

I'm sorry. Go ahead.

Chad Beynon (Managing Director and Analyst)

No, go ahead.

Corey Sanders (COO)

Please finish.

One thing on programming, because I think it's important. Look, we all have eyes wide open on where all of this could go. If I think about the calendar, we have 500,000 more seats available in the market this next coming quarter, the second quarter, than we did the first quarter between events at Allegiant, T-Mobile, et al., all the big block event houses. We are adding 500,000 seats, everything from Post Malone to Gaga's coming back. We are hosting an Inoue fight, Coldplay, and I could Beyoncé. I could go on and on and on. activity pace is ripe and good, better than 2024, replicates somewhat 2023. We are excited by that. Time to tell. Like I said earlier, 44% of your bookings in the last 30 days, you do not know until you know. We like the programming.

We like the momentum. We like our ability to control expenses. I think we're in good shape there. What we've been able to do with labor and other costs, I think, has collectively put us in the position that we're in. Great. Thank you. Back on the tariffs, one of the other competitors in the space paused a major project in the U.S. here just because of uncertainty around cost and just getting the materials in.

Chad Beynon (Managing Director and Analyst)

I know you're far out from planning anything major like New York in the U.S., but as you think about regular CapEx or maybe even a little bit further on some of those bigger projects, do you think this will change how you're thinking about ROIs to the point where maybe something would be off the table, or it's still high enough above the cost of capital that it's kind of a no-brainer still? Thank you.

Corey Sanders (COO)

If you take New York out, and I think our capital issue is about $800 million, of which there's a couple hundred million in what we consider true growth capital, and there's about $600 million in core issues tied to IT, tied to room remodels. This year, as you know, we're doing MGM. I think next year is Aria, followed by Cosmopolitan in 2027. Where we source for those projects, meaning those room remodels, because that's the biggest thing that I think could be tariff-related, we'll have to pay close attention to. Unless something happens more macro with the environment and our balance sheet, we wouldn't change our thinking around those significant remodels. No, I guess the answer to the question really is no other than that.

Chad Beynon (Managing Director and Analyst)

Great. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Bill Hornbuckle for any closing remarks.

Bill Hornbuckle (CEO and President)

Thank you, Operator. I would like to thank everyone for joining us today. I think maybe to reiterate, we have a best-in-class, high-quality portfolio of assets, both digital and physical, we think will generate and continue to generate meaningful cash flow, enabling us to take advantage of just about any opportunity, whether that's building in Japan or buying back shares at attractive multiples. I think we need to reiterate what Jonathan walked you through, understand the macro environment, but we are literally trading at 3.3 times multiple in our core business, and we see significant insight, obviously, ultimately with our digital businesses. As we look ahead, we're confident that our experienced management team, which has adapted through numerous economic cycles, will further provide the ongoing resilience of the business we have had so many times before. Obviously, we have seen this.

We're all veterans in many of these activities, good, better, or worse. We really think we're in a good space and a good place. We do think Las Vegas is resilient, and it's proven itself to be. We like where we are, generally speaking. Thank you all for joining us today.

Operator (participant)

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.