Rush Street Interactive, which operates what is perennially the best-performing casino in Illinois, reported strong Q2 earnings in a Wednesday release followed up by a positive investment call.
If Illinois online casinos were ever to become legal, RSI would surely be among the leading operators in its home state.
RSI online casino performs above market expectations
RSI CEO Richard Schwartz led the call by declaring, “As we continue to innovate, grow and deliver value to our customers, I remain confident that we are well on our way to achieving our goal of being a leader in online gaming across America.”
He also noted,
“Second quarter revenue was 220 million, up 34% year over year, and EBITA was 21.4 million, representing a 20 million improvement year over a year. Both of these were quarterly records and I’m very proud of our team for continuing to generate these excellent results.”
InvestorPlace remarked, regarding the robust Q2 earnings, “This was 9.44% better than the analyst estimate for revenue of $201.37 million.”
The Rush Street Interactive presentation also noted that the company “grew U.S. iCasino revenue over 40% year-over-year,” operating iCasino in five states (Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Michigan, New Jersey) as well as the Canadian province of Ontario. It also “grew revenue from markets outside of Illinois and Pennsylvania to 59% of total revenue in 2Q24, the highest it has been since going public.”
Rivers Casino Des Plaines establishes itself as tops in the state
Though much of the call focused on its online casinos and Latin American operations, it also boasts five destination casino resorts under the Rivers Casino brand, including the Rivers Casino Des Plaines complex in suburban Chicago, which operates in conjunction with Churchill Downs.
Rivers Casino Des Plaines has established itself as the top revenue earner in the state, maintaining that reputation in June. Its $43.9 million AGR, though down 0.9% from the June 2023 revenue totals, represented a 31.8% market share in the Land of Lincoln.
Churchill Downs reported its own record revenues in Q2 last week, aided in part by the Chicagoland casino’s contributions.
Rush Street also maintains Rivers Casino Portsmouth, currently enjoying its status as Virginia’s best revenue-generating casino, accounting for nearly $26 million of the close to $60 million of AGR from the Commonwealth’s three casinos.
The company’s stock price jumped from $10.01 a share at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday to $11.40 a half hour later, and opened at $11.5o per share on Thursday morning.
BetRivers Sportsbook an outlier in Illinois
Gaming success, plus online sports betting growing by 25% in the same time frame, fueled much of RSI’s growth for the quarter. Its sports betting service, BetRivers, is an outlier in Illinois, with a 10% hold in the Land of Lincoln compared to its national average of nearly 4%.
Schwartz takes aim at IL graduated tax rate
Schwartz was asked about Illinois’ new graduated tax on sports betting, passed in May with rates ranging from 20% to 40% depending on revenue. He said, “The bottom line is is that if we continue to perform the way we have, and the way we will in the future, it makes it that much more compelling for the same structure to remain in place for the future.”
Schwartz indicated that he doesn’t think Illinois is “a one off.” He predicted that tax hikes “will lead to less revenues in some cases by the state, because you will empower the the unregulated operators and the sweepstakes companies to be more aggressive in these markets, therefore really limiting the capital that the states generate. So it’s very important to be very cautious when you do this.”
