Penn National Gaming reports steep income increase

Penn National Gaming Inc., one of the largest racetrack and casino companies in the U.S., had net income of $76 million in the second quarter of 2011, a sharp increase over second-quarter net income last year of $9.2 million.

Revenue in the quarter was $687.9 million, up 14.9 percent over second-quarter income of $598.3 in 2010, largely because of higher revenues at existing properties in West Virginia and Pennsylvania due to the legalization of table games in those states. Penn National’s casino at Charles Town Races in West Virginia, for example, had net revenues of $144.7 million in the quarter, compared to $112.4 million in the second quarter last year.

Second-quarter results last year were also negatively impacted by a $30.6 million impairment charge that Penn National recorded on a property the company purchased in Columbus, Ohio, for the purposes of developing a casino.

Among 22 properties, Penn National owns three casinos located at racetracks, all of which posted higher revenues in the second quarter of 2011 than in the second quarter of 2010. A casino at Penn National Race Course had net revenues of $86.4 million in the quarter, up 8 percent, and a casino at Zia Park in New Mexico had net revenue of $21.8 million, up 8.6 percent.

Penn National is currently building two casinos in Ohio that are slated to open in 2012, and the company is exploring an option to move Beulah Park, a racetrack in Columbus it purchased last year, to Dayton. The Ohio legislature passed a bill allowing the company to move the racetrack earlier this year.