PENN Entertainment, Inc.
Q2 2017 Earnings Call Transcript

Published: 27 Jul 2017

[Operator:]

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Penn National Gaming Second Quarter Results Conference Call. During the presentation all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Afterwards, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Joe Jaffoni, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

[Joe Jaffoni:]

Thank you. Good morning, everyone and thank you for joining Penn National Gaming’s 2017 second quarter conference call. We’ll get to management’s presentation and comments momentarily, as well as your questions-and-answers, but first I’ll review the Safe Harbor disclosure. In addition to historical facts or statements of current condition, today’s conference call contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve risk and uncertainties. These statements could be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as expects, believes, estimates, projects, intends, plans, seeks, may, will, should or anticipates, or the negative or other variations of these or similar words, or by discussion of future events, strategies, or risks and uncertainties, including future plans, strategies, performance, developments, acquisitions, capital expenditures and operating results. Such forward-looking statements reflect the Company’s current expectations and beliefs but are not guarantees of future performance. As such, actual results may vary materially from expectation. The risks and uncertainties associated with the forward-looking statements are described in today’s news announcement and in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company’s reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. Penn National assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. Today’s call and webcast will include non-GAAP financial measures within the meaning of SEC Regulation G. When required, a reconciliation of all non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP can be found in today’s press release as well as on the Company’s website. And with that it’s my pleasure to turn the call over to the Company’s CEO, Tim Wilmott. Tim?

[Tim Wilmott:]

Thank you, Joe, and good morning everyone and thank you for joining our second quarter 2017 earnings call. With me today are Chris Sheffield, our Head of Penn Interactive Ventures; our CFO, BJ Fair; our Senior Vice President of Public Affairs, Eric Schippers; General Counsel, Carl Sottosanti; Chief Operating Officer, Jay Snowden; our Treasurer, Justin Sebastiano. I wanted to first highlight our second quarter performance with my remarks and then turn it over to Jay which will be followed by BJ. But certainly, we saw a very solid second quarter, with very positive consumer trends with visitation and spend per visit, highlighted by very solid growth in Massachusetts, the Plainridge Park and also the state of Ohio with our four properties there. And we continue to see and understand much better the impact of National Harbor on Charles Town and continue to be pleased with how well Charles Town has held up with the new competitor in the market. We also saw a significant year-over-year growth, based on our acquisitions in Penn Interactive Ventures and also Prairie State Gaming in Illinois with our VGT business. With all that, when we take out the addition of our two new Tunica assets which came on line May 1st, and also remove the charge at corporate for the cash-settled stock-based comp. We beat revenue and specifically adjusted EBITDA by $2.5 million in the second quarter from a guidance standpoint. With our free cash flow, we were able to reduce traditional net debt by almost $50 million in the second quarter. And I just want to speak to the operating performance and the people running our businesses out there and continue to tap the fact that our EBITDA margins across the enterprise were up 30 basis points for the quarter year-over-year. As we look towards the balance of 2017, when we include approximately $7.6 million contribution from our two new Tunica assets, beyond the beat we have for the second quarter, we’re raising our EBITDA guidance by $10.2 million for the balance of the year. Again encouraged by the consumer trends we’re seeing that have continued into the month of July and our team’s ability to improve our operating efficiency in our businesses. So, with those introductory comments, I’d like to turn it over to Jay Snowden.

[Jay Snowden:]

Thanks, Tim, and good morning to everyone. Second quarter was largely a continuation of key fund performance across the majority of the portfolio. We exceeded revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance largely due to solid same-store sales growth, which when you exclude Charles Town was actually the highest since Q1 of 2012. Continue to improve our adjusted EBITDA margins, as Tim mentioned year-over-year, given the great work by our property teams and believe there is more to come in the quarters and years ahead. Some additional detail from a few of our key markets, starting in West Virginia. Our Charles Town property actually grew EBITDA in the month of June in face of new competition year-over-year; and consistent with Q1, second quarter, we continued to perform better than expectations going into the year with revenues year-to-date only down high single digits, having -- even with MGM National Harbor having opened in December of last year. In Las Vegas, today we opened Robert Irvine’s Public House restaurant its first in Las Vegas. The second quarter was challenging at shot due to the two disruptive construction projects that we noted in the earnings release, but we’re very encouraged but what we’re seeing in July since the pedestrian bridge from MGM reopened through the 21st of July, visitation and gaming volumes are all up over 20% year-over-year. This of course is all in advance of the restaurant opening later. [Ph] In Ohio, we saw impressive top and bottom-line growth in the second quarter at all four of our businesses, as we continue to grow our database and relationships with our most valued guests. And so road construction continues I-75 north of our Toledo property. The impact is certainly less disruptive than it was last year at this time. Moving to Massachusetts, Plainridge Park Casino had a fantastic second quarter, growing revenues just shy of 10% year-over-year, while simultaneously improving EBITDA margins by 100 basis points. And then, lastly, in San Diego, we continue to refine our marketing strategies and cost structure. Sequentially from Q1 to Q2, we experienced solid top line growth, coupled with margin improvement of nearly a 1,000 basis points, resulting in over 25% higher EBITDA in the second quarter, when compared to the first quarter. And now some insight into what we saw in the second quarter with regards to our database trends. Similar to the first quarter, VIP segment was particularly strong across nearly all of our markets, open visitation and spend per visit. The unrated [ph] business was also an area of strength outside of three markets Charles Town, Illinois, and Mississippi. And we’re confident that these trends will continue as consumer confidence, job and income growth and home values all continue to improve year-over-year. One quick comment on July through the first four weeks has been very strong start to the third quarter. It is still early. With that said, but we’re encouraged by what we’re seeing across the vast majority of our properties as we head into the second half of the year. So with that, I’ll turn it over to BJ to cover Q3 and second half guidance.

[BJ Fair:]

Thanks, Jay and good morning. Just few detailed assumptions for our Q3 and updated 2017 financial guidance, found one page five in the press release. I just wanted to give a few highlights. Revenue for the year is $3.12 billion for the full year and Q3, $790.9 million. Adjusted EBITDA is $867.4 million for the full year, $220.4 million for Q3. I do want to note that the guidance for the full year of 867.4 includes the $6.6 million of cash-settled stock awards and the Tunica charges that we experienced in Q2; absent those charges, would have been approximately $874 million but they’re included for the full year guidance. We don’t normally also give property level information, but because our guidance now includes Tunica, we wanted to be very specific about the second half estimates for Tunica. Net revenue is forecasted for the second half of 2017 of $34.7 million. The EBITDA before rent contribution for the second half is $7.6 million, which is reflective of a $1.7 million of integration expenses and conservative estimates for the disruptions to the slot four for the installation of our Marquee Rewards system conversion. Our outlook for the performance of Tunica remained consistent with the assumptions that we had at the time of acquisition. In addition to the increase for Tunica, as Tim mentioned, we have increased our property level guidance of approximately $2.6 million beyond the beat we experienced in Q2. Our maintenance CapEx guidance remains at $78 million for the year, approximately $32 million of which is expected in Q3. Cash on hand at the end of June is $220.4 million. Our project CapEx is expected to be $29 million for the year, $14 million of which is expected for the remainder of the year. And again, it goes without saying as we previously stated, the construction of our Tropicana expansion, has been shifted out until next year. We have updated our cash taxes to be a net refund of $28 million. This reflects our higher pre-tax income from the operating performance as well as lower estimated depreciation due to the shifting of the Tropicana expansion capital spent. Our Master Lease rent coverage ratio was 1.83 as of 6/30. At this time, we expect to incur a rent escalation of approximately $4.1 million at the conclusion of our lease year which is due to higher forecasted performance from the properties as well as an inclusion of the new Tunica assets. Our free cash flow generation at the end of the year is expected to be $310 million and net free cash flow after mandatory payments and project CapEx is expected to be $161 million which includes the acquisition of Tunica. And all of our debt covenants will be comfortable in that. In addition to the guidance, I wanted to say a few words about Jamul loan. And as Jay said earlier, we continue to be encouraged by the improvements that we’re experiencing in the property but that being said, I wanted to provide a brief update on the status of our loan at Jamul. First and foremost, the loan is current and is being fully serviced. We do anticipate that the total leverage covenant will be breached upon the August 15 certification test. We also anticipate that all of our term loans seen will become subordinated. Negotiations are ongoing between the tribe and its lenders and it’s the intent of all parties to come to a timely resolution of the issues based upon the current financial performance of the facility. We have taken a $5.6 million cash impairment charge against the loan. The impairment assumes that there may be concessions as part of the restructuring of the loan due to the covenant breach. Once negotiations have been finalized, we’ll be coming with what the results are but until such time they are still on negotiations. Now, I’d like to reiterate that our guidance does not assume any EBITDA will be received in 2017 from our license or management fees based upon the current negotiation status. So with that, I will turn over to Tim.

[Tim Wilmott:]

Thank you BJ, thank you Jay. Operator, we’re now ready to take any questions from the audience.

[Operator:]

[Operator Instructions] And our first question comes from the line of Carlo Santarelli with Deutsche Bank. Please proceed with your question.

[Carlo Santarelli:]

Hey, guys. Good morning. If I could just clarify something before I ask my question and I think BJ, you more or less outlined this. But, the new guidance of 867 that includes Tunica charges and that was $1.5 million or so plus the cash stock of about 6 and change, so you’re really looking at an 874 number, offering people with those two charges from the 2Q and with Tunica?

[BJ Fair:]

That’s just caveat. 1.7 is basically what we are expecting in addition of Tunica, the 1.7 is expected for additional Tunica charges in the second half. Some of the Tunica charges that were in the previous -- that were in Q3 included the [indiscernible] Q2, approximately 6,000. [Ph] So, these numbers are just correct and would have been equivalent to the 874.

[Carlo Santarelli:]

Got it. Okay, great and thanks. Just on a go forward basis, as you guys look at your business now, and Jay, obviously you had some favorable comments about July. The comps seem to be a little bit easier in the back half this year than they were in the first half. You came through the first half very well in terms of same-store performance, which leads me to kind of a two-part question. Maybe why not be a little bit more aggressive with respect to stock buyback in the 2Q and do you feel like the guidance you put forward for the second half is leading conservative?

[Jay Snowden:]

Let me -- I’ll answer the second part of the question first, then I’ll it over to BJ to answer the question on buybacks. Carlo, this is Jay. Look, it could be conservative, we’re off to a great start in July and if the trends that we’re seeing in July continue through the remainder of Q3, then our guidance is going to be extremely conservative. But it’s hard to say; three weeks doesn’t make a quarter, three weeks doesn’t make a second half of the year and there are still unknowns. Obviously, we’re opening up a brand new restaurant here at Tropicana today; we’re very excited about that. We’re seeing the improvements in foot traffic and gaming revenues, on advance of the restaurant opening, just since the pedestrian bridge reopened to MGM. So, we’re encouraged by what we’re seeing; trends in Ohio, Massachusetts continue to very strong this month and really across the portfolio. So, I hope that it’s conservative, but it’s typically our approach just to make sure that we’re not again ahead of ourselves as we put guidance out there.

[BJ Fair:]

And with respect to the share repurchases, obviously it remains a primary focus of the Company as one of the key elements of our capital allocation. But, as you think as many of you are aware out there, there are number of processes that are currently going on for M&A activity that’s out there as we’ve been looking at a number of things in Canada. And as a result, I think we made the determination that at this time we’re looking at potential M&A activity that is probably going to be a better return we’re looking at for the allocation of Company. And as we continue to move forward, as I said, we’ll continue to look at the share repurchases. But based upon some of the M&A activity that is going on out there right now, processes that are going, we’ve elected to delever at this time and be able to take advantage of those opportunities.

[Tim Wilmott:]

And just to remind everybody, we have the authorization Carlo from our Board; it was a two-year authorization. So, we have plenty of time to act upon that as we feel it’s the best use of our capital.

[Carlo Santarelli:]

For sure. Thanks guys, and all that was really helpful. BJ, if you don’t mind, let me just ask one point clarity. Are you making a point that you were potentially prohibited from buying back stock in the quarter or you chose not to because of some things that you think are more than likely to come to the goal line?

[BJ Fair:]

We chose not to, as there’s number of things, number of different opportunities that are out there that I think we are really looking at and obviously take into consideration the capital structure design. So, we thought that delevering was putting us in a best position to be able to take advantage.

[Operator:]

Our next question comes from the line of Felicia Hendrix with Barclays. Please proceed with your question.

[Felicia Hendrix:]

Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I just have a few property specific questions. I was wondering if we could start on Charles Town. Certainly, the stability there has been impressive throughout. So, just wondering kind of what you continue to do there, any kind of plans for that property going forward to further insulate it or even though it’s stable to go down to maybe abate some of the declines?

[Tim Wilmott:]

Well, Jay was in Charles Town on Monday. So, I’ll let him answer that question.

[Jay Snowden:]

Yes. Look, Felicia, perhaps what I’ve been -- I’ll answer the question maybe a little differently and get to your question. What I’ve been most pleased with since the opening of MGM National Harbor in December of last year is that the impact to our property has been very consistent every month. So from January all the way through to what we’re even seeing in July, and I mentioned on my comments at the beginning, we actually grew our EBITDA year-over-year in June with the new competition. But, if you look at the topline, our topline has been down anywhere between 7% and 10% year-over-year, pretty much every month and even on a weekly basis, it’s very consistent. So, we’re pleased. We know who our customers are; we’re very focused on the mid segment, mid-work segments and the VIP segments, certainly closest to our property, the mid-point of the five zones between us and National Harbor. We performed very well in Frederick County, Maryland; and Loudoun County, Virginia and actually have held up better than we anticipated in Fairfax County, Virginia and Montgomery Country, Maryland. So, we’re pleased with what we’re seeing in the business. The team has done a great job on the cost structure. Our margins year-over-year are very close to how they were last year, even with the revenue decline. So, property performance is great. And we’re going to continue to do what we’ve been doing. We’re very focused on the experience, we programmed a lot more entertainment and we’re confident as we head to the second half of the year that we’ll see trends continue as we’ve seen in the first half of the year.

[Felicia Hendrix:]

Meeting the revenue declines but continued increased flow through?

[Tim Wilmott:]

That’s consistent with what we’ve seen in the first half of the year which is exactly as you described.

[Felicia Hendrix:]

Okay, great. And just moving on to Tunica, now that it’s closed, maybe give us and update, your thoughts on those and is there any kind of upside there?

[Jay Snowden:]

Sure. It’s still very early. So, I don’t have all the answers to the question at this moment, Felicia, but I would say that what we’re seeing in the business is very consistent with what we saw during the due diligence phase and we’re very confident that we can deliver on the EBITDA that we put out at the time of the acquisition. There is malaise in the second half of the year that BJ laid out very well, one-time charges to the tune of $1.7 million. So, the guidance we put out there for Tunica of course is net of that. And then we also took down our assumptions for the second half of the year because we will be installing our Marquee Reward player loyalty card program. And systems, at both properties over the course of the next couple of months and as we saw Tropicana that can be disruptive to the gaming experience. So, going into 2018, our assumptions for those properties are in line today with what we thought they would be at the time of acquisition.

[Felicia Hendrix:]

Great. And then just finally on Trop. So, you’ve added you’ve improved some of that -- something is opening today. As you kind of look at what you’ve done now and kind of the benefits of that, wondering if it’s kind of making you rethink the different CapEx project that’s now pushed to 2018. Is it making you to think about -- what you’ve invested today and the benefits, is it kind of making you rethink your future project there?

[Tim Wilmott:]

Felicia, this is Tim, I’ll answer that question. We’re opening, as Jay said, the Robert Irvine restaurant today; we have another Asian restaurant opening up later this year. We want to give it more time before we think about further capital allocation here. And we’re going to at least give ourselves a couple of quarters of performance with the added amenities. So, our thoughts haven’t changed about Tropicana, Las Vegas. We’re going to wait probably till the first half of 2018 to determine what’s going to be next, after we see the response from our customers, specifically the Marquee Rewards customers on the new amenities here. We’re encouraged with what we’ve seen so far since the bridge opened at the end of June. But, we’re going to give ourselves at least six more months of performance before we communicate further what our plans here will be.

[Felicia Hendrix:]

Okay, great. And then, just one last housekeeping. BJ, could you just remind us of the covenant on the Jamul loan, the details there?

[BJ Fair:]

On a pro forma basis, as of June 30, the total debt -- I am sorry, total leverage ratio needed to be below five times. And the total leverage ratio will exceed five times, the certification of that comes on August 15 and that is when the actual breach is anticipated to be.

[Operator:]

Our next question comes from the line of David Katz with Telsey Advisory Group. Please proceed with your question.

[David Katz:]

I wanted to just follow that up with respect to Jamul. And I’m not sure, if you stated this before. What is the Company’s financial exposure or remaining investment in that? How much money is “at risk” with that project with this one?

[BJ Fair:]

I won’t put at risk. We currently have a loan of approximately a little over $98 million of our term C loan. We have an additional obligation to continue to fund roadway improvements in the area of up to $15 million. So, our anticipated exposure should be $115 million of total loan. As I mentioned, that loan and the term loan B are both current right now, they’re being fully serviced. And we are in process of renegotiation for the loans based upon current operating performance that we are seeing. And so, I think that as we have identified a slight impairment to that loan, based upon the current negotiations and potential outcomes of those negotiations, but again, I think we still feel very, very comfortable about the long-term operations at Jamul and the viability of continuing to be restructuring that loan and we can be fully serviced and not at risk.

[David Katz:]

Right. And if I can follow that up one more time. I hear your optimism. Has the return view changed or been reset or should we be thinking about a kind of flatter trajectory to get there or longer timeframe to get there than say where we were a quarter ago? I think before the property opened, we probably all had a different view, but say over the past quarter or so.

[Tim Wilmott:]

David, this is Tim. I don’t think our expectations have changed much from the prior quarter. We have seen notable improvement, second quarter over first quarter and continue to be encouraged by the trends there. But from where we were three months ago, I think we’re right on or maybe even slightly better than the expectations we had from a quarter ago. So, things continue to project in the right direction. And we’re just in the process of -- with the tribe and the other lender trying to get the capital structure settled.

[BJ Fair:]

And I think it’s just the easiest way to say, which is based upon the current performance, the capital structure is just a little over-levered and we need to continue to work through and restructure the existing loans, the more appropriate for the current operating performance for the capital structure.

[David Katz:]

Got it. And if I can just ask one quick one with respect to Tropicana and I did walk the floor recently and I do -- I heard your comments, I appreciate your comments about the allocation of capital there. As you look through the property, it does look as though there are some other incremental projects to take on whether its food or the pool areas or other things like that. Irrespective of any thoughts about the hotel tower, what are the next projects there and how are you sort of thinking about the return as it is today or this year, on what you’ve spent so far?

[Jay Snowden:]

I’ll tackle that one, David. We’re continuing to look at our non-gaming amenities and offering share of the property as Tim mentioned. We have another smaller agent concept that we’re opening up towards the end of this year that will be adjacent to Robert Irvine’s restaurant. We’re converting our café, the beach café to a buffet over the course of the fourth quarter. So, we’re continuing to make significant improvements to the non-gaming amenities. We have a new resident entertainment offering here at the property, David Goldray, [ph] he’s off to a great start, new magician to town. So, we’re doing a number of things that really fall within the typical maintenance CapEx budget of the property beyond the sort of $40 million that we talked about previously. So, acquisition of 360 and where a total of 400 million all in when you consider the renovations to the casino floor Marquee Reward installation and now the recent additions of the restaurants. And that’s where we expect to be until we make our decision on what to do longer-term. As Tim mentioned, that will be sometime in the first half of next year after we let these amenities come to life and see what the response is from our customer base, particularly those that are travelling in town from our feeder market. So nothing has really changed there, David, beyond some smaller projects we’re continuing to work on, but those fall within the maintenance CapEx budget of the property.

[Tim Wilmott:]

And we have some areas, as you probably have suggested, David, that are underutilized, and that’s our decision process, how to allocate capital, mostly maintenance capital to address some of the existing facility opportunities before we make a final decision in 2018 about further expanding the footprint of this property.

[David Katz:]

And if I can ask one last quick one. In the past, we’ve talked about the potential M&A landscape for distributed gaming and we haven’t really seen or heard much about that, I don’t think. What’s going on there and is there any potential opportunity for you to allocate capital there in the near-term?

[Tim Wilmott:]

We certainly -- we have done a number of small deals, and BJ is probably closer to that than anyone else in the room today. But yes, we still are very interested in continuing to expand our footprint in the state of Illinois and beyond with the distributed gaming business and we continue to have discussions with the operators there that are interested in selling their roots to us. And I think that will continue and be ongoing opportunity for us quarter-to-quarter.

[David Katz:]

Thanks.

[BJ Fair:]

That’s pretty much it. I think we’re seeing a lot of activity in the space; it’s definitely in aggressive marketplace, we still have a very high expectation on the valuation side. But I think if there is activity and as time goes on, I think you can expect to see more activity in that space as well.

[Operator:]

Our next question comes from the line of Steve Wieczynski with Stifel Nicolaus. Please proceed with your question.

[Steve Wieczynski:]

Hi. Good morning, guys. So, Jay, I apologize if I missed this in your prepared remarks. But, can you go a little bit more into the average player in terms of what you are seeing today, that rated player? Can you maybe go into some details about what you are seeing in terms of trips made and spend per trip and then also that non-rated player; are you seeing that segment pick up as well?

[Jay Snowden:]

Sure. Thanks, Steve. So, really the strength that we saw in the second quarter and very consistent with the first quarter was concentrated at the VIP segment. So, our higher worth guest, we saw improvements in spend per visit and visitation. As you go down further in the database sort of at mid worth level spend per visit and great story, visitation more flat at that level. And the lower worth customers were seeing spend per visit improvements but visitation down slightly, low single digits. So that’s sort of the layout of the rated portion of the database. The unrated portion was another strong area in the second quarter. There are few markets that are soft and to be expected, we’re not seeing unrated business growth in the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, with some new competition there, Charles Town of course, not growing our unrated business but our rated business has held up very well. And we did have some impact to our property in Illinois, Alden, we had a flood that impacted us and we had to shut our business down for a few days that impact our unrated business in Illinois. But outside of those, those are really the exceptions. Unrated has been a great story in Ohio, Missouri, Massachusetts, Las Vegas, it’s been a good story overall. So hopefully that answers your question, but happy to answer anything else.

[Steve Wieczynski:]

No. That’s great, Jay. And just one quick final question, just going back to Vegas. You talk a lot about the Trop and you guys gave a lot of detail there, but can you maybe just give in terms of what’s going on and then how that property is held up over the last couple of quarters?

[Jay Snowden:]

Sure. Well, we continue to have a very strong year as we have the last several years that M Resort. The current performance of that property continues to get better every quarter on a year-over-year basis and it’s somewhat driven by topline and visitation, and we continue to work on cost structure there as well. We are actually taking a hard look right now, an additional hotel tower at M Resort because the property’s performance continues to get better and better and the returns look better and better. There is a lot of roof tops. We are in Vegas right now. And when you drive up to M where we had dinner last night, you just see construction trucks and homes on the roads and they are digging into the mountains, build additional homes around southern highlands, it’s a really great story. Population growth is going to continue on the south end of the valley here in Las Vegas, which benefits us tremendously at M Resort, long term.

[Operator:]

Our next question comes from the line of Shaun Kelley with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Please proceed with your question.

[Shaun Kelley:]

Hi, guys. Thanks. I joined late and I don’t really want to make you repeat anything. So, maybe to try and go to an area where you haven’t really covered, obviously with Tunica like last quarter, we’ve heard from some different operators and just the general environment out there that M&A opportunities maybe sort of picking up in the regional business overall. I’m kind of curious on, obviously can’t comment on specific transactions, but just kind of curious on your overall thoughts on the transaction environment and how you kind of feel about additional opportunities like tuck-in deals like Tunica.

[BJ Fair:]

As we mentioned a little earlier, we see a lot of M&A activity that’s out there right now and it’s part of the reason we’re keeping our powder dry to try to take advantage of some of those -- some very large opportunities out there which some processes currently I’m sure you’re aware and others. So, I think we’re seeing some activity that’s there and we are continuing to have a number of different opportunities.

[Operator:]

Our next question comes from the line of Chad Beynon, Macquarie. Please proceed with your question.

[Chad Beynon:]

Great. Thanks for taking my question, guys. First, I wanted to start on Canada, not on the M&A side, to your comments BJ, but on the new casino side. I know there was an RFP recently in Ontario for three properties. And you guys have run Casino Rama for some time. So, could you maybe just give us some color in terms of why you didn’t submit a proposal if returns are better elsewhere or you just don’t think the opportunity up there fits your criteria? Thanks.

[BJ Fair:]

With respect to the Casino Rama bundle that is currently being run for the OLG modernization process, application on that bundle have not been -- due times on those bundles have not been -- have not hit yet. So that’s still out there as a potential and that process is still there in other way.

[Jay Snowden:]

And Chad, we have submitted a proposal for another bundle in the province of Ontario. So that is in play right now. But, some we’ve passed on because we didn’t think the opportunity was significant enough for us. But, we recently have gotten a proposal submitted and we’re waiting to see next steps on that.

[Chad Beynon:]

Okay, great. Thanks, I was actually referring to the Woodbine, Ajax and Great Blue Heron bundle. Thanks for the color there. And then, just moving on to Plainridge which isn’t under your Master Lease agreement, could you kind of give us some targets or maybe just some color around how you’re thinking about this? Obviously, the EBITDA continues to grow, a lot of us don’t believe you’re giving full credit for this property that is a propco and not an opco. So, how do you think about the right timing to maybe explore selling the rent under this property? And that’s all for me.

[Tim Wilmott:]

Well, Chad, that is -- and we’ve said this in the past, that’s certainly the option we have. We’ve said also in the past that we want to see what the impact of the new supply in Massachusetts will be. We know that the Boston Steve Wynn operation will open up in 2019. There is a little bit more uncertainty about the [indiscernible] in the southeastern zone but we certainly want to see what the impact of that supply has and the stability of our cash flows before we think about exercising that option.

[Operator:]

[Operator Instructions] We do have one more question and that’s from the line of Brian Egger with Bloomberg. Please proceed with your question.

[Brian Egger:]

Good morning. Just to clarify this and I apologize if you have gone through detail on this earlier. To get to the $2.5 million favorable EBITDA variance relative to your previous guidance, which is kind of related to Tunica, just trying to understand what you’re basically saying in the reconciliation, is that that you start with 219.1, so you have to effectively add back the three points for $1 million net effect of Tunica, net of the severance charges and everything else in the stock awards. I just want to understand that $2.5 million, if you will.

[BJ Fair:]

Yes. So the increase [multiple speakers] the second quarter -- are you referencing to the guidance going forward or second quarter beat?

[Brian Egger:]

I was referring to the second quarter beat, the reference specifically to $2.5 million, if one were to move the contributions from Tunica; I just want to make sure I understand how you’re getting there?

[BJ Fair:]

Yes. It’s from Tunica and on the property level basis, then the remainder is $2.5 million on for the non-Tunica properties.

[Tim Wilmott:]

Brian, you take out the performance of the two months of the Tunica assets, which weren’t in the second quarter guidance and then you remove the corporate charges for the cash-settled stock-based comp and the severance changes in Tunica, the net of that is a positive beat of $2.5 million for the second quarter.

[Brian Egger:]

Okay, got it. Okay. That makes sense. Thank you very much.

[Tim Wilmott:]

Thank you. Before we continue, if there’re any more questions, I would like to have BJ just clarify an answer he gave regarding the Jamul leverage.

[BJ Fair:]

Yes. So, Felicia, I apologize. The 5.0 test -- five times test is basically for our subordination. The total leverage covenant test on a pro-forma basis was 5.5 times, but the answer still remains the same.

[Tim Wilmott:]

Operator, are there any more questions?

[Operator:]

There are no further questions at this time, sir. Please continue with your closing remarks.

[Tim Wilmott:]

Well, thanks everybody for listening into our second quarter 2017 earnings call. I know today is a busy day for everyone in the gaming space with a lot of different earnings releases and calls. So again we’re optimistic about what we see for the balance of 2017 our properties and our teams there delivering all the expectations that we set forth at the beginning of the year. So, we’ll certainly be back in touch with all of you in about three months to talk about third quarter and balance of 2017. So, thank you for your participation on this call.

[Operator:]

Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude the conference call for today. We thank you for your participation and ask that you please disconnect your lines.