Good day, everyone, and welcome to today's Century Casinos Q1 2026 earnings call. It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Peter Hoetzinger. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our earnings call. Before we start, we'd like to remind everyone that we will be discussing forward-looking information under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Federal Securities laws. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ from those projected. Throughout the call, we refer to several non-GAAP financial measures, including, but not limited to Adjusted EBITDAR. Reconciliations of our non-GAAP measures to the appropriate GAAP measures can be found in our news releases and SEC filings available in the investor section of our website at cnty.com. With me today are my Co-CEO, Erwin Haitzmann, and our Chief Financial Officer, Margaret Stapleton. After our prepared remarks, we'll open the call for questions from analysts. I'm pleased to report that our diversified portfolio delivered a strong, solid quarter as net operating revenue increased by 5%.
That is an all-time record for us. We never had higher revenues in the first quarter in the history of the company. Congrats to all staff members and the management teams at our properties. Our performance was encouraging across the board. The growth was broad-based. Every single property in the U.S. and Canada had higher revenues than in Q1 of last year. That strong revenue performance also translated well to profitability, with Adjusted EBITDAR increasing 24% year-over-year. Highlights of the quarter include the 93% EBITDAR increase at the Nugget, as well as the ongoing ramp and strong performances of both Missouri properties. Also on the EBITDAR level, every single property in the U.S. and Canada grew compared to Q1 of last year. We achieved that growth despite extra costs and the slow ramping new casino in Poland.
Strong operating discipline led to improved flow-through with some property margins in the high thirties and even above 40%. In the quarter, we benefited from growth across core and retail customers from improving weather conditions, as well as from a predominantly local repeat customer base, a diversified portfolio, and limited exposure to new supply. As mentioned in our last call, we have been seeing solid trends since around December of last year, despite higher gas prices. At most of our properties, the majority of our customers live within a 45-minute drive. Hence, the overall economy, inflation, and especially employment are more impactful and meaningful than gas prices alone. I would say we are also seeing some benefit from tax refunds being higher year-over-year, offset by less favorable macro geopolitical backdrop.
Our properties are spread across 5 states and 1 Canadian province. These positive results were also supported by the ongoing trend of customers staying closer to home and spending their money closer to home. Across the entire U.S. portfolio, the trend of strong play from high-value and core customer segments continued. Overall, rated revenue increased 5%, emphasized by solid growth in the high and mid ADT segments and in all age groups. Last but not least, we benefited from strong returns from the capital investments we've made over the last 2-plus years. These investments have finally entered the contribution phase, contributing to EBITDA growth and helping us to start deleveraging the balance sheet. With that, now over to Erwin for more color on our individual properties.
Thank you, Peter Hoetzinger. Good morning, everyone. In the U.S., we had an excellent first quarter with year-over-year revenue and EBITDAR growth at each property. Beginning in the east with Rocky Gap Casino, Resort & Golf in Maryland. There, revenue increased 6.5% from $13.9 million to $14.8 million, and EBITDAR increased 32% from $1.6 million to $2.2 million. Rocky Gap had a strong quarter with total revenue up nearly 10% and NOR up 6.5%, driven by solid gains in visitation in January and February. Slot revenue rose 16%, boosted by improved hold. The property's direct mail digitization initiative, which were introduced for guests aged 39 and younger, is delivering meaningful savings in marketing spend while maintaining engagement. Payroll discipline continued, with total payroll up only 1.6% despite annual increases.
Operating expenses were down 5.2%. On the customer side, rated gaming revenue grew 21%. High ADT customers accounted for 33% of total gaming revenue and grew 39%. We are seeing growth across all age groups, with seniors up 28% and middle-aged and young adults each up 14%. Non-local customers now account for more than half of rated gaming revenue, reflecting the property's continued draw as a destination resort. We experienced some softness in March, likely driven by higher gas prices. Looking ahead, the team has activated targeted campaigns in Pennsylvania ahead of the opening of a new casino in State College, which is approximately 2 hours from Rocky Gap. Continuing with Mountaineer Casino, Resort & Races in West Virginia.
Revenue increased 3.9% from $23.2 million-$24.1 million, and EBITDA increased 24% from $2.6 million-$3.2 million. Mountaineer's Q1 result was driven by expense discipline and moderate revenue growth. Total revenue was essentially flat, while NOR improved 3.9% due to a $0.7 million reduction in freeplay. Our digital channels continued their strong growth. iGaming revenue was up 48% year-over-year, and sports betting was up 285%. Hotel occupancy held steady with higher cash and lower comp revenue. Adults 40-59 years old grew 12%, and young adults grew 24% in rated gaming revenue. These are encouraging signs for the property's customer base development.
Local customers grew 11% and now account for 81% of rated revenue, reflecting Mountaineer's position as a regional entertainment anchor in West Virginia's Northern Panhandle. On to our Midwest portfolio, starting in Missouri. At Century Casino & Hotel Cape Girardeau, revenue increased 6.4% from $17.1 million-$18.2 million, and EBITDA increased 12% from $6.1 million-$6.9 million. Cape Girardeau had a strong quarter. The increase in net operating revenue was driven by excellent slot performance. Slot revenue was up 6.5%, and guest volumes were up 8%. Our retail sportsbook, which launched in December 2025, is already averaging 17% of Missouri's total sports betting handle and is ranked second in the state, an impressive early result.
The Riverview Hotel continues to perform well, with occupancy rising to 76% from 68% in Q1 of last year. Comp hotel guests are generating an average ADT of more than $400, confirming the strong link between hotel stay and gaming value. Illinois patronage is rebounding, with unique patrons up 6% over prior year. The competitive picture, which includes Walker's Bluff and Metropolis in Illinois, remains manageable. Now to our Century Casino & Hotel Caruthersville. There, revenue increased 3.1% from $14.2 million-$14.6 million, and EBITDA increased 5% from $6.1 million-$6.3 million. Caruthersville continues to deliver strong, consistent results from its well-established permanent facility. Both slots and tables delivered positive revenue growth, with slots up 7% and tables up 2%.
High ADT customers grew 23%, and Missouri patronage grew by 22%. Trips from patrons living more than 75 miles away increased by 20%, a clear indicator that the new facility is drawing from a broader geographic catchment area. Also note that there was a one-time favorable settlement of $225K in Q1 of last year. On an apples-to-apples basis, EBITDA growth was 9%. I continue with Colorado. At Century Casino & Hotel Cripple Creek, revenue increased 8.6% from $4.1 million-$4.4 million, and EBITDA increased 37% from $1.1 million-$1.5 million. Cripple Creek had a very good quarter. The elimination of table games at the start of 2025 continues to prove its worth. The electronic table games lounge is popular among our guests, especially young adults.
Accordingly, this age group shows the strongest growth. Payroll and benefits were down 70K on nearly 5%, total expenses failed 1.5%. The result is a clean, lean operation which further improved profitability. Customer trends show healthy growth in both unrated and non-local play, which we attribute to our successful marketing initiatives and our continued focus on customer satisfaction. Rated gaming revenue grew 5%, with mid and low ADT segments each up more than 15%. At Century Casino & Hotel Central City, revenue was up 4% from $4.4 million-$4.6 million, EBITDA more than quadrupled from $200,000 to over $1 million. Central City's improvement continued in Q1. The removal of table games, which we implemented at the start of 2025, has significantly improved the property's cost profile.
Total expenses were down $600,000 year-over-year, with payroll and benefits alone down $313K. Slot revenue was flat to the prior year. The EBITDA improvement is substantial and reflects a better managed operation. We're also seeing some improvement in unrated and non-local play at Central City. Hotel cash revenue was up 10%, with a strong Q2 event calendar, including the 20th anniversary challenge, a multi-month promotion culminating in a car, trips or cash drawing on July 5. To the West and the Nugget Casino Resort in Reno, Sparks. Revenue increased 4% from $16.4 million to $17.1 million, and EBITDA increased 93% from $0.7 million to $1.4 million. The Nugget's EBITDA doubling is significant. Expenses were flat, the increase in revenue was fully flowing through to EBITDA.
Hotel cash revenue was up $1 million, which is a 31% increase. F&B cash revenue was up 7%, demonstrating that the non-gaming amenities are gaining traction. Unrated gaming grew 16%, suggesting growing walk-in visitation, aided by the increased hotel occupancy and improved entertainment offers. The concert lineup for this year is excellent. The Brooks & Dunn concert on April 25 was sold out. The acts still to come include Keith Urban, Lady A, Shinedown, Miranda Lambert, and Kansas, and Deep Purple. Now to Canada. Our portfolio in Alberta, Canada consists of Century Casino and Hotel Edmonton, Century Casino St. Albert in the Edmonton Metropolitan area, Century Mile Racetrack and Casino to the south of Edmonton, and Century Downs Racetrack and Casino to the north of Calgary. These properties performed very well in Q1 too.
Combined revenue increased 10.9% from 16.5 to $18.3 million, and combined EBITDA increased 26% from 4.4 to $5.5 million. We saw another quarter of solid performance at our Alberta operations. The renovation of the exterior façade at our St. Albert Casino, which was completed last year, has significantly improved results. Our Century Mile Racetrack and Casino achieved the best quarterly performance since its opening in 2019. We completed the construction of sports bars at all four sites and are well-prepared to offer retail sports betting, which will be permitted in Alberta at casinos and selected sports sites later in 2026.
Finally, moving to Poland, where revenue increased 2.3% from $20.6 million to $21.1 million, and EBITDA decreased 8% from $550,000 to half a million. The challenging period marked by license delays and relocations has ended, and we can focus on improving overall results. Our second Wroclaw location started operations in February of this year and is expected to further strengthen our position. While revenue is showing a small increase already, EBITDA is down by 8%. We attribute this decrease to lower than normal replacement CapEx, given the intent to sell the Poland subsidiary. All current licenses are valid through at least 2028, and we expect stable operations going forward. With that, back to you, Peter.
Thank you, Erwin. Let's now go over some capital and balance sheet items and share our outlook for the rest of the year with you. As reported, adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $24.9 million versus $20.2 million last year. Cash rent was $18 million versus $16.3 million, resulting in adjusted EBITDA of $7 million this year versus $3.9 million last year, an 80% increase. Our cash and cash equivalents as of March 31st were $60 million. We spent approximately $3 million in CapEx in the quarter, mainly on gaming equipment, the new casino in Poland, as well as on other small projects throughout the different properties. Total debt outstanding was $337 million, resulting in net debt of $277 million.
At the end of the quarter, our net debt to EBITDA ratio remained unchanged at 6.9 times. Lease-adjusted, the ratio was 7.6 times, again, unchanged from the previous quarter. Importantly, we are now heading into the stronger cash flow quarters and are seeing positive indications that the business is on the right track to lower leverage to more manageable levels of leverage. Let me also note that we have no debt maturities for the next 3 years. That is until Q2 of 2029. Reducing leverage is a top priority throughout the remainder of the year, as share repurchases are on the back burner. As mentioned in previous earnings calls, 2026 will be a year of execution and harvesting for us. While we have the rest of the year still to deliver, I'm happy to report we are off to a good start.
I would say that April feels very much like a continuation of Q1, which is good. We are not seeing any cracks in the armor. Across the board, we're actually feeling really good for the remainder of the year. We see the solid trend continuing into the second quarter, and we see a clear path forward to higher EBITDA and cash flow for 2026 and beyond. The regional consumer has been remarkably resilient through the noise that we have seen in the last couple of months. Regional and local business feels firm. We expect to benefit from strong improvements and performances at the Nugget as well as in Colorado, and from the continued ramp of the new land-based facility in Colorado Springs. Cash flow-wise, in addition to higher EBITDAR, we expect to benefit from decreasing CapEx.
Whilst we spent a total of $18 million of our cash for CapEx in 2025, we expect that amount to come down to between $14 million and $15 million for this year. That is all normal capital cycle stuff. We have no big projects around the corner. As you know, we just came off a large capital expenditure program, so it's quite natural that we now spend some time harvesting that cash flow to strengthen our balance sheet. As things move forward, we will remain focused on improving our free cash flow generation while optimizing our corporate overhead and remaining disciplined with our capital. As for our strategic review process, it's still ongoing, and we continue to make good progress.
Selected assets are under exclusivity agreements. We cannot make public comments right now and ask for your understanding that we will not take questions on this topic in our Q&A session. With that, can we please open the line for our first questions from analysts, operator? Thank you.
Thank you. At this time, we will open the question-and-answer session. Our first question will come from Jeffrey Stantial with Stifel.
Great. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking our questions. Starting off, I'd love to just dig into a quarter a little bit. You know, the margins was really, you know, the piece of things that surprised us, the most to the upside. Erwin, you know, you gave us a lot of different data points at the asset level to help us think about it.
I guess maybe to tie it all together and think about things, you know, at a more macro level, can you just talk about sort of, you know, how much of the margin expansion you saw in Q1 was sort of more, you know, one time in nature, whether that's, you know, easier flow through comps on weather impact or certain initiatives, you know, that played out versus how much is sort of more structural in nature? I guess, put another way, like, how should we think about flow through, you know, assuming revenue kind of holds stable as the year progresses? Thanks.
Jeffrey, thanks for the question. I think it's twofold. There was a little bit of a weather impact as last year, in Q1, there was inclement weather in a few of our properties. That's only for a certain portion of that, of the increase. I think the larger portion is that we ran an initiative across all properties, pushing one more time for really searching for possibilities for cost savings, both on the property side, but also on the corporate level, where we were checking all agreements again for could we not get advantages in purchasing, for example, by combining the purchasing power all across the United States.
Just browsing through all the large and also the smaller agreements, some of which we just felt we don't need anymore, we can replace by in-house, in-house services. As I said, we just wanted to give it a push and encouraged everyone to look at all the costs with a fresh eye. That was the second part. The third part was that we did the same thing for the marketing side, where, again, we encouraged everyone to rethink everything and make new proposals, see whether there is anything we haven't done we should try, and encourage new initiatives. That showed good results, in some cases, exceptional results.
Thanks for that, Erwin. Then maybe actually just double-clicking on that last point. The marketing initiatives, I think you talked about marketing costs being down at Rocky Gap. I think you mentioned, you know, you pulled back on freeplay at Mountaineer. Can you just talk about sort of the, you know, the process a little bit more? You know, how do you decide where to pull back on, whether it's on marketing or promos? Then is there any sort of, you know, player-level data or analysis that you've, you know, put together that you can share with us that shows that, you know, this isn't gonna have an impact, whether immediately or longer term on player behavior?
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I can, I mean, the format wouldn't allow to go into all detail, but I'll give you examples. As I mentioned earlier, in Rocky Gap, we changed the mailers, and we said everybody 39 and younger will only get emails and not a physical mailer anymore. That saves money, obviously. And we think we can, for the obvious reason, that makes sense, and that has been very well accepted and we're starting to save some costs. Another example would be, for example, at the Nugget, where we significantly increased the points that we gave, for example, at the table games, we've increased the points we give by 4-fold, 4 times as many as before.
In the slots for a month or two, we said we double the what we give back, but it's working so well that we might continue with that campaign for a longer period of time. We continue to do more of that. I could give you more examples, but it's just property by property, as new ideas come up, we encourage them to try and see what works.
Helpful. Thanks very much.
Certainly.
Our next question will come from Ryan Sigdahl with Craig-Hallum.
Hey, good day, guys. Alberta, nice quarter, really strong results, both revenue and profit-wise. How much was there an impact from the macroeconomic, higher oil prices, et cetera, versus company-specific initiatives?
Hi, Ryan. Thanks for the question. It's really hard to say that. In Alberta, we used to say when the oil prices are high, then the revenues are better, that's not necessarily true anymore and cannot be linked directly. I think it's a similar thing. We also made a marketing push there and encouraged all the managers who are doing a wonderful job, to think some more, share ideas with us, as I said, we encourage them to try new things, some of them work really well. It seems that the customers, this fresh wind is also going through to the customers then ultimately to the income statement.
Just on free cash flow, good to hear kind of the confidence in that increasing. A couple of years ago, you were targeting $30 million plus free cash flow. I guess, can you talk to, is that still a realistic target timeline to get there, and then the levers you plan to pull?
Peter, can I turn it over to you?
Yes, Ryan. We think that with the improvements that we have made to our portfolio over the last couple of years, the asset portfolio is certainly capable of doing that. We need the low-end consumer to come back a little bit more than what we currently are seeing. With that, the continued improvements that we are making, especially at the Nugget, which we believe has the higher potential upside, that is certainly the goal in the next two or three years.
Thanks, Peter, Erwin. Good luck, guys.
Thank you.
Our next question will come from Chad Beynon with Macquarie.
Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Wanted to talk about the Nugget. You spoke about the strong concert calendar that we can see on your website here, so it looks really good over the next couple of months. Conventions could be up. Not looking specifically for numbers. I mean, really good to see the strong EBITDA increase for Q1. Is there a way for us to think about, you know, just visitation to the market or how meaningful these bigger concerts could be for the summer period? If you usually see, you know, higher play at the slot machines and table games during these periods as well. Thanks.
Definitely. Thanks for the question, Chad. The concerts are meaningful from various perspectives. First of all, we believe that we have the most attractive outdoor venue in the market, in the Reno-Sparks market. It's popular not only with the guests, it's also popular with the artists, obviously. Yes, definitely, the economical side of the concert is not only ticket sales minus costs for the artist and production, but it's a lot around it. It's the food and beverage revenue that is made in the Nugget Event Center, which is meaningful, if organized well, contributes a lot. It's also very important to get the customers over to the casino.
We see that there is a significant lift in casino revenue, in food and beverage revenue over at the casino in the various restaurant outlets. Also, for the night of the concert and the night before and the night after, we see a significant increase in hotel revenues. Of course, we're also selling packages where we sell hotel rooms together with concert tickets. We market that as well. Such a successful concert can be really meaningful. Brooks & Dunn was one of those that it was sold out and had a fantastic impact on the numbers.
Okay, great. Thanks for that additional color. With respect to Poland on the cost side or the margin improvement, does this feel like it's more of a one-time issue in the first quarter and you guys can return to growth when you get past some of that? Or do you need, you know, revenues to increase from here to see EBITDA increase year-over-year?
We mainly think we need the ramp up of the second Warsaw casino mainly. That took a little bit longer than we had hoped for, but it's coming now. Yes, we are looking for the increase in revenue to increase EBITDA. We've had that before when we had these closures and openings, sometimes it goes quickly and other instances takes a little bit longer until the customers are then coming back.
Okay, great. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Our next question will come from Conor Parks with CBRE.
Hi. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking our questions. I appreciate the comments around leverage and the prioritization of leverage here going forward. I guess, as you hit this inflection point in free cash flow, at what point might you start to use some cash on hand or internal liquidity to start to buy back the loan in the open market, especially considering where the loan has traded over the past few months?
Okay, thanks for the question, Conor. Peter?
Yes. Conor, that is definitely the thing to do. We are planning to sell Poland, as we've said. The next market that is non-core after Poland is obviously Canada. We have now heading into the stronger months of positive cash from operations. These are the three sources of cash. As you probably have seen in our 10-Q filing, we have reached an agreement with one holder of the Term Loan B that allows us to tender some of up to a certain amount of the Term Loan at a specified discount.
We didn't have that agreement before before our Term Loan B contract and the agreement obliged us to use proceeds from asset sales to buy back the Term Loan B at par. That was obviously not the most productive thing to do. Now that we have that in place, we will definitely use proceeds from either asset sales or positive operating cash flow to pay down some of that Term Loan B. A priority.
Great. Thank you for that. All makes sense. As a follow-up on that, on that same announcement from yesterday evening, the addition of a, of a new board member, impressive gaming background for him, specifically the Mohegan tribe. I guess, what type of role, if you're able to share, do you expect him to play, whether it be operationally with the balance sheet or kind of all the above? Thank you.
That's probably a little bit early to say. Mitchell has just joined our board yesterday or today officially, we'll get started soon. He will start visiting our properties, and he certainly will make his offer to make his experience available and will share his thoughts with us. We're excited about it. We believe this can be very fruitful and positive to get further input from somebody with an experience, background like Mitchell has, for the properties of Century Casinos.
Great. Thank you. I appreciate it.
Definitely. Thank you.
That is all the time we have. If we did not get to your question, please reach out to the company using the investor relations page at cnty.com. I will now turn the call back to Mr. Hoetzinger for closing remarks.
I would like to just thank everybody for joining the call. We appreciate that. We'll talk again in August when we'll present the results of the second quarter. Until then, thank you and goodbye.
Thank you. This does conclude today's Century Casinos Q1 2026 earnings call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.