Caesars Entertainment hurt by Hurricane Sandy

Caesars blamed the modest increase on the affects of Hurricane Sandy, reporting that net revenues from its affected Atlantic City operations dropped by 8.6 % year-on-year to us$ 1.681 billion resulting in an annual loss of us$ 394.6 million, which is considerably less than 2011’s profit of us$ 79.6 million.

However, the firm’s Caesars Interactive Entertainment and Playtika subsidiaries together reported a 106.2 percent year-on-year boost in annual net revenues to us$ 275.7 million although their total losses rose by 77.3 percent when compared with the same period in 2011 to us$ 425.1 million.

Overall adjusted annual earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortisation dropped by 0.3 percent year-on-year to us$ 1.937 billion while its loss from continuing operations net of income taxes swelled by 98.1 percent when compared with 2011 to us$ 1.382 billion.

“The fourth quarter capped a year that was marked by significant progress on our strategy to reinvigorate our core business, expand our domestic distribution network, pursue growth online and internationally and continue to improve the company's capital structure,” said Gary Loveman, Chairman, CEO and President for Caesars Entertainment. “In our core business, we were encouraged by double-digit growth in customer spend per trip in our Las Vegas region and an overall 6.2 percent increase in that key metric.

“In the Internet space, Caesars Interactive Entertainment acquired Bingo Blitz, further boosting our presence in the social and mobile games market. We received approval from Nevada gaming regulators of our application for a license to be an operator of interactive gaming in that state and expect to begin offering play in the coming months. We are also encouraged by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's support of online gaming in his state and anticipate having the opportunity to pursue online gaming there soon.”