Penn National Gaming posts higher net income in second quarter

Penn National Gaming Inc., which operates dozens of casinos and a handful of racetracks, had net income of $16.9 million in the second quarter of 2015, a $12.7 million gain over the second quarter of last year, according to financial documents released Thursday.

Revenue during the quarter was $701.0 million, up 7.4 percent compared with revenue of $652.1 million during the second quarter of 2014, according to the documents. The revenue figure for the second quarter of this year includes money generated by a new casino and racetrack in Ohio, Mahoning Valley, which opened in the fall of 2014.

In addition to Mahoning Valley, Penn National operates Penn National Race Course in Pennsylvania, Zia Park in New Mexico, Charles Town Races in West Virginia, and several harness tracks, and it is a co-owner of Sam Houston Race Park in Texas. Two years ago, the company split off its real-estate business into a separate publicly traded company, Gaming and Leisure Properties, and it now pays rent on those properties to the new company.

Total rent expense during the quarter was $109.5 million, compared with $104.6 million in the second quarter of last year, according to the documents.

At the end of the quarter, Penn National had total debt of $1.26 billion, up 2 percent from $1.235 billion at the end of 2014.