Las Vegas-based Tropicana Entertainment Inc. on Thursday reported a first quarter loss and said its three casinos in Nevada continued to suffer during the economic downturn.
The company, controlled by investor Carl Icahn, said it lost $1.5 million on net revenue of $157 million for the quarter ended March 31.
Comparable numbers for the year-ago quarter are not available as Tropicana Entertainment Inc. acquired assets from the Tropicana Entertainment Holdings LLC bankruptcy last year in separate transactions.
In Nevada, the company owns the Tropicana Laughlin and the River Palms hotel-casinos in Laughlin; and the MontBleu casino resort in Lake Tahoe.
The Las Vegas Tropicana was spun off to a different group of investors.
Tropicana Entertainment said in Thursday’s quarterly financial report that the Nevada properties generated net revenue of $33 million and $3.2 million in operating income in the quarter. Excluding depreciation and amortization expenses, operating income for the Nevada properties was down 26.7 percent.
Net revenue was down 7.3 percent in the quarter vs. the year-ago quarter for the Nevada properties as the average daily hotel room rate of $37 was down 12.2 percent. Tropicana said reduced consumer spending associated with the recession as well as road construction on the main casino strip in Laughlin were responsible for declines there.
Illustrating the challenges facing these properties, Tropicana said that even with this low average daily room rate, occupancy was only 67 percent.
In the Nevada casinos, slot volume fell 9.6 percent and table game volume fell 6.1 percent.
The company’s Casino Aztar in Evansville, Ind., did better as slot volume increased 2.4 percent. It generated net revenue of $31.3 million and operating income of $6.4 million.
Net revenue for Tropicana’s properties in the South was $28.5 million. Operating income there was $5 million.
The Tropicana Atlantic City generated net revenue of $64.4 million and an operating loss of $4 million.