Century Casinos reports record USD 46 M loss in Q1

Century Casinos has unveiled it lost $45.9 million in the first quarter after government restrictions forced the closure of its casinos.

Much of the loss came from a $33 million write-down on the value of its casinos, the Gazette reports.

The company continued to pay most of its employees before furloughing them at the end of March, resulting in the record loss, which equaled $1.55 a share, and compared with a profit of $1.07 million, or 4 cents a share, a year earlier.

A bit of good news for Century came Monday, when it was able to open its eight casinos in Poland.

Century Co-CEO Peter Hoetzinger told stock analysts on a conference call Wednesday that the company hopes to reopen its horse racing track in West Virginia by the end of the month and its casinos in Missouri and West Virginia in early June, its Colorado casinos in early to mid-June and its Canadian casinos in the second half of June.

Century estimated it would cost nearly $20 million to reopen its casinos, but the company noted it had $50 million in cash on hand on April 30 after borrowing the remaining $17.4 million available on its revolving loan agreements.

The company said in a news release that it was spending about $8 million a month while its casinos were closed and announced it will not reopen its casinos in Bath, England, or on four cruise ships.

The company said when it reopens casinos, it expects regulators to require "reduced levels of gaming space, social distancing at slot machines and table games or reduced capacity within the casino, limited restaurant operating hours or continued closure of restaurants, requirements to wear face masks, including the potential to require guests to wear face masks, increased frequency of disinfecting surfaces and other measures.”