MGM Selling $500 Million in Debt, Joins Parade of Gaming Capital Raises

Posted on: October 8, 2020, 09:37h. 

Last updated on: October 8, 2020, 11:02h.

Todd Shriber @etfgodfather Read More
Expertise: Financial, Gaming Business, Mergers and Acquisitions.

MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) is selling $500 million in senior notes coming due in 2028, the operator said today. They join a growing list of gaming companies heading to capital markets to raise cash.

MGM Bond Sale
MGM Grand operator MGM Resorts, seen here, is selling $500 million in debt as its sports betting unit is taking off. (Image: Bloomberg)

The Bellagio operator said it intends to use the proceeds from the note sale “for general corporate purposes, which could include refinancing existing indebtedness” — standard lingo used by companies when selling debt or equity.

MGM didn’t reveal the coupon on the notes in a prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In May, the Mirage operator completed the sale of $750 million in senior notes coming due in 2025 at an interest rate of 6.75 percent. The $500 million transaction revealed today will almost certainly carry a higher percentage due to the longer maturity of the debt.

At the end of the second quarter, the gaming company had $11.4 billion in liabilities and $8.1 billion in cash on hand. The operator has no debt maturing before 2022.

COVID Comments

MGM is the largest operator on the Las Vegas Strip. As such, it is intimately correlated to headlines involving the coronavirus pandemic. The outbreak forced a nearly three-month shutdown of Nevada gaming properties earlier this year, sending MGM stock to a 2020 loss of 35.38 percent and out of favor with some on Wall Street.

The Mandalay Bay operator adds the pandemic is causing “significant disruption of global financial markets” and that could impair its ability to access capital in the future.

For now, financing is readily available for gaming companies. MGM joins DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) and Penn National Gaming (NASDAQ:PENN), among others, as the operators raising cash in recent weeks.

BetMGM Update

GVC Holdings Plc. is out with its own update today, commenting directly on that business. MGM’s partner on the BetMGM online casinos and sports betting venture,

The UK-based company forecasts that the US iGaming and sports wagering market will be worth approximately $20.3 billion by 2025. GVC added that in August, BetMGM’s share of the New Jersey internet casinos market was 22 percent, while its online sports betting share was 10 percent and retail sports wagering was 24 percent.

GVC also noted its combined share in Colorado, Indiana, and West Virginia is in line with expectations of 15 percent to 20 percent.

The firm estimates that BetMGM’s iGaming and sports wagering share in the markets in which it’s currently operational is 17 percent and that the business will generate net revenue of $150 million to $160 million this year.