Penn National income falls in second quarter

Penn National Gaming Inc., the owner of dozens of casinos across the U.S., had net income of $66.6 million in the second quarter of 2012, a 12.3 percent decline from net income of $76 million in the second quarter of last year, according to financial documents released on Tuesday.

Although net income was down in the quarter, revenue for the company increased 3.6 percent in the quarter, from $687.9 million last year to $712.6 million this year. Operating expenses increased 6.8 percent, from $547.3 million to $584.5 million, according to the documents.

Penn National owns and operates several racetrack casinos, including Penn National in Pennsylvania, Zia Park in New Mexico, Charles Town Races in West Virginia, and Beulah Park in Ohio. The company also co-owns Sam Houston Race Park in Texas, and owns the harness tracks Freehold Raceway in New Jersey and Raceway Park in Ohio.

In a release accompanying the financial statements, Penn National reiterated that it intended to move Beulah Park from Columbus to Youngstown and Raceway Park from Toledo to Dayton. The company recently opened casinos in Columbus and Toledo, and it wants to move the tracks so that their casinos do not compete with the company’s existing properties and to capitalize on the state’s limited licensing of gambling facilities.

Peter Carlino, the chief executive of the company, acknowledged in a statement that “regional gaming market revenues generally softened” during the quarter due to the increasing number of casinos that are opening across the U.S.