LAS VEGAS, Nev. Two of Nevada’s largest casino companies reported third-quarter earnings within 24 hours of each other this week, and the numbers point to the same weak spot with two different shapes around it.
MGM Resorts International, headquartered on the Las Vegas Strip itself, told investors Wednesday that profit fell not just in Las Vegas but in every other segment it reports, Macau and its regional casinos included, even though revenue grew in two of those three.
Caesars Entertainment, whose headquarters sits in downtown Reno, according to its latest quarterly filing, reported a day earlier that Las Vegas was the one soft spot in an otherwise growing quarter. Its regional casinos and digital betting business both expanded.
What Fell, and Where
MGM’s Las Vegas Strip Resorts segment posted Adjusted EBITDAR of $530.8 million, down 11.7% from $600.9 million a year earlier, even as segment revenue slipped a smaller 1.5% to $1.95 billion. That is a profit decline more than seven times the size of the revenue decline that caused it, a sign that the drop fell almost entirely on margin rather than traffic.
MGM China’s revenue climbed 4.6% to a quarterly record of $1.14 billion, with a record 17.1% market share. Its Adjusted EBITDAR still fell 7.1%, to $264.0 million from $284.0 million. On the earnings call, MGM China Chief Executive Kenneth Feng attributed the softer margin to hold variance, the event calendar and a mix shift toward high-end play, not to weaker demand.
MGM’s regional casinos reported revenue down 7.7% and Adjusted EBITDAR down 17.9% on paper, but that comparison is distorted by last year including MGM Northfield Park, which the company sold on April 21, 2026. Stripping Northfield out of both years, same-store regional revenue actually rose 1.1%, to $883.2 million, while same-store Adjusted EBITDAR still fell 6.6%, to $242.6 million from $259.7 million. Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Halkyard said on the earnings call that the regional decline traced mainly to lower table-games hold at two properties, not to a broader falloff in regional visitation.
Put together: Las Vegas, Macau and the regional same-store business all lost profit at MGM last quarter. Two of the three gained revenue while doing it.
Caesars’ One Weak Segment
Caesars’ Las Vegas segment told a narrower story. Net revenue fell 2.3% to $930 million, and Adjusted EBITDA fell further, down 9.5% to $343 million from $379 million, a profit decline about four times the size of the revenue drop behind it.
Everywhere else at Caesars, the numbers moved the other way. Regional casino revenue rose 5.9% to $1.63 billion and regional Adjusted EBITDA rose 3.6% to $524 million. Caesars Digital, the company’s sports betting and online casino arm, grew revenue 4.8% to $326 million while its Adjusted EBITDA more than doubled, up 57.1% to $44 million from $28 million.
Companywide, Caesars’ net revenue actually rose 2.5% to $2.94 billion. Total Adjusted EBITDA fell a much smaller 2.1%, to $865 million, almost entirely because of what happened in one market.
The Same Squeeze, Measured Two Ways
The two companies report profit differently. MGM uses Adjusted EBITDAR, a measure before rent. Caesars reports Adjusted EBITDA, after the lease payments both companies make to the real estate investment trusts that now own most Strip casino buildings. That difference means their dollar figures cannot be added together and treated as one number.
But margin compression, measured as each segment’s profit divided by its own revenue, can be compared directly, and it lines up closely. MGM’s Las Vegas margin fell from 30.3% to 27.2% of revenue, a drop of 3.1 percentage points. Caesars’ Las Vegas margin fell from 39.8% to 36.9%, a drop of 2.9 percentage points. Those two margin-compression figures, each calculated independently from the companies’ own reported revenue and profit, are within two-tenths of a point of each other, despite one company’s Strip margin starting nearly 10 points above the other’s.
Outside sources point to the same mechanism. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s own September report, released the same week as both earnings calls, put citywide hotel occupancy down just 0.5 percentage points but the average daily room rate down 6.3%. Visitors are still showing up in roughly the same numbers. They are paying less to stay, and that is landing on the bottom line at both of the Strip’s biggest operators at once.
| Segment | Company | Revenue change | Profit change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Las Vegas | MGM | -1.5% | -11.7% (EBITDAR) |
| Las Vegas | Caesars | -2.3% | -9.5% (EBITDA) |
| Macau / China | MGM | +4.6% (record) | -7.1% (EBITDAR) |
| Regional casinos | MGM (same-store) | +1.1% | -6.6% (EBITDAR) |
| Regional casinos | Caesars | +5.9% | +3.6% (EBITDA) |
| Digital | Caesars | +4.8% | +57.1% (EBITDA) |
Why Caesars Didn’t Hold a Call
Caesars released its results Tuesday without an earnings call, a choice tied to the $17.6 billion deal to take the company private under Houston businessman Tilman Fertitta. Caesars shareholders approved the all-cash, $31-a-share buyout on Sept. 22 with about 65.4% of outstanding shares voting in favor. The deal still needs antitrust clearance from the Federal Trade Commission and gaming approval in every jurisdiction where Caesars operates, a process the company has said could take several months, and it carries a closing deadline of June 26, 2027, after which Fertitta owes shareholders an extra $0.00715 per share for every day of delay. Caesars carried about $11.6 billion in long-term debt as of Sept. 30, 2026.
MGM, by contrast, held its usual call. Halkyard told analysts the fourth quarter was off to a steadier start, saying “October right now is looking a lot more like July,” while cautioning that booking windows remain shorter than the company would like.
What It Means for Both Nevadas
Caesars runs its corporate affairs out of downtown Reno while almost all of its casino floors sit more than 400 miles south on the Strip. MGM’s headquarters sits on the Strip itself. Last week, both companies told investors that the same market, Las Vegas, was the weakest part of their business, whether the filing came from a Reno address or a Las Vegas Boulevard one.
