Brick-and-mortar casino properties were big topics of the day on MGM Resorts International’s Q3 earnings call on Wednesday. The biggest focus was on Las Vegas, where land-based operators had a hard summer amid declining visitation.
MGM’s Las Vegas Strip resorts had revenue of $2.0 billion in Q3 2025, compared to $2.1 billion in Q3 2024. Executives noted declines in revenue per room, table game win percentage and food and beverage revenue, plus segment Adjusted EBITDA was down 18% year over year from $731 million to $601 million.
Discussing the results on Wednesday’s call, CEO Bill Hornbuckle admitted to investors and analysts that after getting negative feedback from guests on the price of MGM’s Vegas experiences this summer, the company realized it had gotten things wrong.
“This summer, we heard from some of our guests around value in Las Vegas, and we responded by making adjustments to ensure a rationalized premium value experience across all of our properties,” Hornbuckle said.
“We lost control of the narrative over the summer. I think we would all agree to that in hindsight. When we think about pricing, whether it’s the infamous bottle of water or a Starbucks Coffee at Excalibur that cost $12, shame on us. We should have been more sensitive to the overall experience at a place like Excalibur for those customers. You can’t have a $29 room and a $12 coffee. We’ve gone through the organization and we believe we’ve price-corrected.”
As for the traffic, while Hornbuckle acknowledged that fewer visitors from Canada and Southern California, among other places, hit both his company and other brick-and-mortar casino operators hard, he’s confident of a rebound.
“We are still expecting to receive over 40 million visitors to Las Vegas in 2025,” the CEO added. “While we don’t expect the dynamic to be changed overnight, we are proactively working to create initiatives and draw incremental visitation.
MGM takes big hit on abandoned NYC casino pursuit
Overall, while MGM reported Q3 revenue of $4.3 billion, a 2% year-over-year increase, it suffered a net loss of $285 million compared to a net profit of $185 million in Q3 2024. Adjusted EBITDA was down from $574 million in Q3 2024 to $506 million.
Hornbuckle attributed most of the drop in income to the costs of the now-abandoned pursuit of a license to revamp its casino in New York City. MGM was widely considered one of the frontrunners and planned a $2.3 billion expansion of its existing MGM Empire City before MGM Yonkers abruptly withdrew from the race on Oct. 14.
MGM executives said Wednesday that its quarterly net loss was primarily due to pre-tax impacts of a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $256 million related to the decision to withdraw, as well as approximately $93 million in other non-cash write-offs related to Empire City.
“We dedicated significant time and resources over the last several years to this project,” Hornbuckle said of the decision to pull out of the race, noting that the financial pressure mounted as the process went on. “I think the thing that concerned us probably the most was at the end, when we thought we were buying for a 30-year license and were told it was 15, and it was done after we’d made an original submission.
“So while we initially liked the return, it got tighter and tighter and tighter, so much so that given overall market conditions, we think it’s capital best spent on some other location and some other opportunity.”
Hornbuckle stressed that MGM remains committed to operating MGM Empire City “in its current format.”
