{"id":130755,"date":"2020-03-21T13:31:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-21T20:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=130755"},"modified":"2020-03-22T10:50:29","modified_gmt":"2020-03-22T17:50:29","slug":"las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/","title":{"rendered":"Las Vegas Sands, MGM, Wynn, Others Tagged with Negative Credit Outlooks by Standard & Poor’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS), MGM Resorts International (NYSE:LVS), and Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN) are among the operators vulnerable to credit downgrades, as the coronavirus imperils the domestic gaming industry, according to new research from Standard & Poor’s (S&P).<\/p>\n

\"\"
An array of gaming companies are at risk of credit downgrades, says S&P. (Image: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Friday, S&P shifted the ratings outlooks on those gaming giants and a batch of tribal and regional casino companies to \u201cCreditWatch Negative.\u201d They cited the impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on the industry and the US economy. Prior to that move, the research firm had \u201cstable\u201d ratings on most of the gaming companies in its coverage universe. But now, many of these firms are in danger of being lowered to non-investment grade status.<\/p>\n

The gaming operator and gaming equipment sectors are currently facing an unprecedented decline in revenue resulting from the temporary closures of casinos across the U.S.,\u201d said S&P in a note obtained by Casino.org<\/i>. \u201cRevenue will fall significantly, essentially to zero, for many operators as long as casinos are closed.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Recently, ratings agencies have been increasingly vocal<\/a> about the toll the coronavirus outbreak could take on integrated resort firms. They cited the effects of a 15-day closure in Macau last month and a 30-day governor-mandated suspension imposed in Nevada earlier this week, among other factors.<\/p>\n

\u201cRatings on CreditWatch reflect significant anticipated stress on revenue and cash flow over the next several months, or possibly longer, that could cause us to lower ratings over a short time frame, even if companies have a good level of leverage and liquidity cushion,\u201d said S&P.<\/p>\n

Revenue Falling, but Some Costs Aren’t<\/h2>\n

With nearly all domestic commercial casinos temporarily shuttered, operators are facing a low to zero revenue scenario over the near-term. But that doesn’t mean costs are declining in unison with turnover. As S&P points out, gaming companies are realizing savings on gaming taxes and marketing expenses. But that’s not enough to outweigh lost revenue, labor costs and rent that must still be paid<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cLabor, gaming taxes, and marketing are typically the three largest expense items for all gaming operators,\u201d said the research firm. \u201cWhile gaming taxes and marketing will be reduced to zero in a no-revenue scenario, operators will bear some labor costs during closures.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

In preparation for what could be an extended closure period, several gaming companies, including MGM and Wynn, are tapping bank credit lines<\/a> to bring cash onto their balance sheets. They’re also bolstering near-term liquidity at a time when investors are fretting about a recession affecting companies’ access to capital.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Even if gaming properties are soon reopened, operators may have to contend with altered consumer behavior at the hands of a contracting economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cFurthermore, it may take time for operators to recover after properties reopen for a few reasons,\u201d said S&P. \u201cFirst, we believe the U.S. is entering a recession \u2013 if not already in one, which would reduce consumer discretionary spending at casinos.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Regionals a Little Better<\/h2>\n

The research firm is more optimistic about a recovery for regional gaming companies, though it still placed Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD), Penn National Gaming (NASDAQ:PENN), and Twin River Worldwide Holdings (NYSE:TRWH), among others, on \u201cCreditWatch Negative.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, TRWH, which has no Las Vegas exposure, said it fully funded a $250 million<\/a> revolving credit facility and has $360 million in cash on its balance sheet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe regional gaming markets are more likely to recover faster than destination markets like Las Vegas because most customers are able to drive to those properties instead of fly, which reduces the costs of these trips,\u201d said S&P.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS), MGM Resorts International (NYSE:LVS), and Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN) are among the operators vulnerable to credit downgrades, as the coronavirus imperils the domestic gaming industry, according to new research from Standard & Poor’s (S&P). On Friday, S&P shifted the ratings outlooks on those gaming giants and a batch of tribal and regional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":130761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLas Vegas Sands, MGM and More Could Face Lower Ratings, Says S&P<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Las Vegas Sands, MGM and Wynn Resorts are among the gaming companies S&P sees as vulnerable in an extended zero revenue period.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Las Vegas Sands, MGM and More Could Face Lower Ratings, Says S&P\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Las Vegas Sands, MGM and Wynn Resorts are among the gaming companies S&P sees as vulnerable in an extended zero revenue period.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-21T20:31:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-22T17:50:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/traders4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/\",\"name\":\"Las Vegas Sands, MGM and More Could Face Lower Ratings, Says S&P\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/traders4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-21T20:31:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-22T17:50:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Las Vegas Sands, MGM and Wynn Resorts are among the gaming companies S&P sees as vulnerable in an extended zero revenue period.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/traders4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/traders4.jpg\",\"width\":3000,\"height\":2000,\"caption\":\"An array of gaming companies are at risk of credit downgrades, says S&P. (Image: Getty Images)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Financial\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Las Vegas Sands, MGM, Wynn, Others Tagged with Negative Credit Outlooks by Standard & Poor’s\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\",\"name\":\"Todd Shriber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Todd Shriber\"},\"description\":\"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Las Vegas Sands, MGM and More Could Face Lower Ratings, Says S&P","description":"Las Vegas Sands, MGM and Wynn Resorts are among the gaming companies S&P sees as vulnerable in an extended zero revenue period.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Las Vegas Sands, MGM and More Could Face Lower Ratings, Says S&P","og_description":"Las Vegas Sands, MGM and Wynn Resorts are among the gaming companies S&P sees as vulnerable in an extended zero revenue period.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2020-03-21T20:31:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-03-22T17:50:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":3000,"height":2000,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/traders4.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Todd Shriber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@etfgodfather","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Todd Shriber","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/","name":"Las Vegas Sands, MGM and More Could Face Lower Ratings, Says S&P","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/traders4.jpg","datePublished":"2020-03-21T20:31:58+00:00","dateModified":"2020-03-22T17:50:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85"},"description":"Las Vegas Sands, MGM and Wynn Resorts are among the gaming companies S&P sees as vulnerable in an extended zero revenue period.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/traders4.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/traders4.jpg","width":3000,"height":2000,"caption":"An array of gaming companies are at risk of credit downgrades, says S&P. (Image: Getty Images)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-mgm-and-more-could-face-lower-ratings-says-sp\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Financial","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Las Vegas Sands, MGM, Wynn, Others Tagged with Negative Credit Outlooks by Standard & Poor’s"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85","name":"Todd Shriber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","caption":"Todd Shriber"},"description":"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/","https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130755"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}