Beau Rivage has great numbers
BILOXI - MGM Mirage had its best third-quarter earnings ever, with its Mississippi properties contributing to the record profits.
Companywide net revenue was $1.9 billion. A share of the company’s stock earned 54 cents, a 74 percent increase from the same period a year ago.
Beau Rivage was open for only 33 days during the third quarter of this year, but made $16 million before taxes and expenses other than operating costs. That compares with $12 million for the third quarter of 2005 when the casino resort was open two months before Hurricane Katrina hit. The company’s Tunica property, Gold Strike, had double-digit increases in slot revenues.
Terry Lanni, the company’s top executive, praised the work of Beau Rivage President George P. Corchis, Biloxi employees and Las Vegas-based employees for making the resort’s reopening a success.
“We’re very pleased to be leading the way in the rebuilding of the Biloxi market,” Lanni said. “We’re obviously committed to the Gulf Coast community, and we’ve delivered on those commitments and promises.”
Beau Rivage is poised to retain its position as a market leader, said Bobby Baldwin, president of the company’s Mirage division. Fallen Oak, the resort’s new Tom Fazio-designed golf course, opens to hotel guests Monday. New restaurants are slated to open in mid-December. And the reopening of the casino’s entertainment venue is scheduled for Dec. 29. All the stores in the resort’s retail promenade are now open.
“We are extremely pleased with the response we’ve had since opening,” Corchis said. “We’ve experienced record numbers and it’s great to see our players coming back so quickly.”
Coastwide, casino revenue of $109.8 million last month was the best September ever. Beau Rivage reopened Aug. 29, the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
Source: Sun HeraldÂÂ