MGM Q3 Revenue Slips 1% to $4.2B as Las Vegas Room Rates Fall 8%

MGM Resorts International posted $4.2 billion in third-quarter revenue, down 1% from a year earlier. Small dip on paper. The mix underneath it isn't. Growth in Macau and digital covered weaker Las Vegas room pricing and softer regional results, so the top line stayed roughly flat while profit measures swung hard.

Net loss for the quarter ended September 30 was $17 million. A year earlier the loss was $285 million, so that improvement is real. Adjusted EBITDA went the other way: down 20% to $403 million from $506 million. A $103 million swing in the metric analysts watch most closely.

Las Vegas is still the biggest revenue engine at $2 billion for the quarter, but that figure slipped 2% year on year and segment adjusted EBITDAR dropped 12% to $531 million. Accommodation pricing caused almost all of the pressure. Average daily room rate fell 8% to $218. Revenue per available room fell 8% to $193. Occupancy held flat at 89%, and that's the detail that matters: rooms are still filling, they're just selling cheaper. Management blamed higher airfares and fuel costs for weighing on leisure travel demand, with flights into Las Vegas substantially more expensive than last summer.

Gaming offset the hotel weakness. Las Vegas Strip gaming revenue climbed 8% to $488 million on stronger slot performance and high-end table play. MGM also locked in more than 500,000 convention room nights during the quarter, ahead of internal forecasts. CEO Bill Hornbuckle said October has opened stronger, with busier convention activity and a packed events calendar supporting demand. Big sporting fixtures later in the year should lift the Las Vegas properties, the company expects.

MGM China was the standout. Revenue rose 5% to $1.1 billion, and the Macau business set a quarterly market share record of 17.1% even as overall Macau casino gaming revenue fell 3.8%. Higher visitation, better gaming results and upgrades to premium gaming areas drove the gain. Hotel occupancy across its two properties reached 94.1%, up from 93.5%. Segment adjusted EBITDAR still fell 7% to $264 million, partly on higher branding fees paid to the parent company.

MGM Digital brought in $184 million in revenue, up 6%, and cut its adjusted EBITDAR loss to $4 million from $23 million a year earlier. BetMGM did much of the lifting: net revenue rose 7% to $710 million and adjusted EBITDA more than doubled to $86 million. Management reaffirmed full-year 2026 net revenue guidance of $2.9 billion to $3.1 billion for the digital arm.

Elsewhere, construction on the Osaka integrated resort is about 11% complete and on schedule for a 2030 opening. MGM's foundation pledged more than $4.6 million across 211 nonprofit grants in US regions, with employees picking the local beneficiaries. On the corporate side, MGM was reported to be weighing a bid for People Inc. after the media company withdrew its offer for the casino operator; MGM later said it had amended a voting agreement with People to cap further share purchases at 29.9% ownership and align its voting on change-of-control transactions with its board.

Watch that Las Vegas RevPAR figure next quarter. Flat occupancy at 89% alongside an 8% rate cut says volume is intact and pricing is doing the damage. If October's convention pickup holds and the events calendar delivers, the rate line is where any recovery shows up first.