Spin Cycle: MGM, CZR, RSI Earnings Highlight Week In Gambling

Welcome to “Spin Cycle,” Casino Reports’ weekly Friday roundup of all things impactful, intriguing, impressive, or idiotic in the gambling industry. Pull up a chair, grab a stack of chips and a glass of your beverage of choice, and take a spin with us through this week’s news cycle …

3 for Q3

You don’t have to be a calendarian (it’s a real word, look it up) to be aware that three quarters of the year 2026 have passed. Still, the corporate gaming world made us extra aware this week with a slew of major Q3 earnings calls. Here are the highlights of the three biggest in the casino realm:

Caesars: Technically, Caesars Entertainment didn’t host a call, since it’s in the process of being taken private by Fertitta Entertainment. Still, third quarter earnings were released, and they didn’t paint the rosiest picture. Net revenue was flat compared to 2025 at $2.9 billion for the quarter, net loss skyrocketed from $55 million to $123 million, and adjusted EBITDA went in the wrong direction too, down about $20 million to $865 million. Citizens analysts, meanwhile, crunched the numbers and concluded Caesars lost online casino market share compared to the year before. In other Caesars news, Vital Vegas’ Scott Roeben reported that Caesars CEO Tom Reeg will remain on after the Fertitta takeover is complete.

MGM: The lion also was tamed a bit this quarter, with MGM Resorts International reporting a 1% year-to-year decrease in revenue to $4.2 billion. Net loss was $17 million on the quarter, a massive improvement over the net loss of $285 million in 2025’s Q3. But the bigger news coming out of Wednesday’s call was that the attempted acquisition of MGM by Barry Diller’s People Inc. is officially dead, with MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle noting, “We’re going to refocus on our business. The dialogue back and forth between us and People … we’re done.”

Rush Street Interactive: The numbers were more positive at RSI, with Q3 revenue up 39% over 2025 to $386 million and adjusted EBITDA growing 73% to $62 million. And not surprisingly, online casino was central to the gains. BetRivers online casino revenue went up 32% year-over-year and accounted for a staggering 75% of the company’s total revenue — although President and CFO Kyle Sauers did note on the earnings call that the gains seem to be slowing in October, hinting at a possibly less enthusiastic Q4 report ahead.

More news to know …

• The Alberta iGaming Corporation shared last Friday its first Market Performance Report since the province’s launch of regulated iGaming, and one thing it demonstrated was clear growth over the three months of the activity: Non-Adjusted Gross Gaming Revenue (NAGGR) totaled $22.2 million (Canadian dollars) in July, $43.3 million in August, and $56.6 million in September. In September, specifically, 388,585 active player accounts averaged $146 in revenue per player, while digital casino games accounted for 75.6% of NAGGR, sports betting 19.5%, and live-dealer casino 4.9%.
• In the heart of NFL season, Fanatics Casino revealed Wednesday its NFL-themed Infinite Blackjack Live product, which is available in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey (with other states to follow). Infinite blackjack is a live-dealer game in which unlimited players can be logged on at once, sharing the same hand while each makes their own individual decisions — and now players can choose any of the 32 NFL teams as the branding for the table they see.

• An ugly one from the world of poker: Three-time WSOP bracelet winner Sammy Farha, best known for finishing as the runner-up to Chris Moneymaker in the 2003 Main Event, got into a physical altercation with a dealer in the Houston cardroom this week that was partially captured on surveillance video. The dealer, Doug Caillier, alleged that Farha punched him, although that part was not visible on the video. The video does show the veteran poker player arguing with Caillier and security stepping in.
• In much more pleasant Texas poker news, a new poker club owned exclusively by women, the Den Poker Lounge, announced plans this week for a Nov. 12 grand opening. The poker room in the town of Rowlett — near Dallas — was founded by Marjorie Bradford and Jamie Kempf and will include 15 tables to start.

• Sticking with poker, there’s a new weekly podcast from PokerStars ambassadors Maria Konnikova and James Hartigan titled The Tough Call, and the first episode dropped this week. This is the first podcast Konnikova has hosted since she and Nate Silver ended their sometimes-poker-themed podcast Risky Business in January. She is also a staff writer on the forthcoming Las Vegas-based Netflix series The Roman.
• Let’s end this section of Spin Cycle with a couple of fun jackpot hits. A woman from upstate New York described only as “Ady R.” recently won more than $1.025 million on a Dragon Link slot machine at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. And a Borgata Online player topped that by a margin of about $9,000 with a $1.034 million win off a $4 spin on Quantum Crown MegaJackpots.

House Rules: Insights from around our network

Casinos Across The Midwest: A Road Trip Full Of Hits, Stands, And Bad Beats

Canada Discussion About Federal Gaming Ad Guidelines Hijacked

Resorts World Opens NYC’s First High-Limit Room, Queens Native Nas On Hand

Lions And Tigers And VIPs, Oh Why

Study: Bettors’ Politics Aren’t A Problem For Election Odds

New Brunswick Next For IGaming? Bill To Establish Live Dealer Rules Offers Strong Hint

Small stakes and hot takes

This week on the Casino Reports podcast Low Rollers, sponsored by TheLines.com, I welcomed back my former co-host Jeff Edelstein, now the host of The Business of Betting, to banter on such topics as prediction market conferences, card rips, Gina Fiore's book Advantage Player, and the midterm elections — plus Jeff told a stress-inducing DFS tale that undoubtedly verified his “low roller” status.

I also offered my perspective on new online casino limits proposed in my home state of Pennsylvania, and I checked in on the shortening odds for my Chicago-Denver Super Bowl longshot bet — before the Bears went and traded for Jeffrey Simmons and made the odds even shorter!

Full episode:

The Shuffle: Other news and views

Nevada Gaming Win Posts Slight Decline As Las Vegas Visitation Inched Up [CDC Gaming]

Sphere At National Harbor Gets Final Approval With $215M Public Bonds [Axios]

NH Supreme Court Upholds Revocation Of Andy Sanborn’s State Casino License [New Hampshire Public Radio]

Florida Mom Arrested After Leaving 4 Kids Home Alone During Dayslong Trip To Vegas [NBC News]

Lowery Certifies Tribal Gaming Ordinance, Which Heads To Referendum [The Robesonian]

Encore Boston Workers Mark Over 50 Days On Strike [Boston Herald]

Illegal Slots Company Is Turning Some Machines Back On, Opponent Claims [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Monarch Numbers Slightly Higher In Third Quarter [CDC Gaming]

'Tread Very, Very Carefully,' Chender Warns As N.S. Ponders Expanded Online Gambling [CBC]

The Bonus Round

Completing the Spin Cycle with a few of our favorite social media posts of the week: