Caesars Q3 2026 Results: Revenue Rises, Loss Hits $123M

Key Points

• Revenue climbed 2.5% to $2.94 billion but the net loss attributable to Caesars more than doubled to $123 million.
• The $570 million Caesars paid out in interest expenses completely outstripped its operating income of $457 million.
• Digital adjusted EBITDA leapt 57.1% to $44 million, but dropped from $69 million in the first quarter.

Caesars Q3 2026: Revenue Zooms Up, But Loss More Than Doubles to $123 Million

Caesars raked in $2.94 billion in three months, but still managed to rack up a $123 million loss. Its $570 million in net interest expense completely dwarfed the $457 million it made from operations, which pretty much explains why that’s the case. The company had a very public earnings call, but nothing, because Fertitta Entertainment’s takeover is still hanging over the company and Caesars also opted out of giving any guidance for the fourth quarter. Investors are having to take a close look at the financials to get some answers, which raises plenty of questions beyond the headline figures.

Revenue Takes a Jump, But Losses Surge Even Further

Caesars reported $2.94 billion in revenue for the three months ended 30 September. That’s 2.5% up from the $2.87 billion it was making a year ago. However, the net loss attributable to Caesars rocketed from $55 million to $123 million.

Adjusted EBITDA took a 2.1% hit to $865 million, compared to $884 million a year ago. And it had managed to reach $920 million in the second quarter.

Just like last year, Casino revenue is where the action was this time rising 6.8% to $1.754 billion. But room takings and food and drink sales all took a hit, with hotel revenue plummeting 3.7% to $467 million, and food and beverage revenue tumbling 6.0% to $410 million. Casino revenues went up, while rooms and restaurants brought in less than they had the year before.

Where Has the Profit Gone

Caesars’ costs and expenses rose faster than its income, increasing by 5.4% to a whopping $2.48 billion. General and administrative costs shot up 7% to $517 million, while casino expenses leapt 6.3% to $966 million.

Operating income dropped 10.9% to $457 million. And a $21 million shift in other costs didn’t do much to help matters.

Net interest expenses just went through the roof, reaching $570 million, which completely eclipsed its entire operating income. That means pre-tax losses ended up at a staggering $117 million, while the tax break was down to $10 million from $25 million. Noncontrolling interests were able to rake in $16 million, which, in the end, resulted in the net loss attributable to Caesars more than doubling to $123 million.

Debt actually came down to $11.66 billion from $11.91 billion at the end of 2025. Caesars has $864 million in the bank and a further $2.95 billion available to it through revolving credit facilities, so that’s some comfort at least. Caesars’ latest loss was also nearly double the $62 million hit in the second quarter on 28 July.

For the first nine months of 2026, revenue was 2.7% higher at $8.8 billion, while adjusted EBITDA came in 1.9% lower at $2.67 billion.

Digital Increases Each Year, but Decreases Each Quarter

The revenue of Caesars Digital was $326 million, growing 4.8% compared to $311 million in the same period in the previous year. The adjusted EBITDA increased by 57.1% to $44 million compared to $28 million in the same quarter in 2025. That period’s result was poor because of the sportsbook margin in September 2025.

Digital recorded a net income of $4 million attributable to Caesars, even though the adjusted EBITDA was $44 million.

The data provided for the quarter looks different when compared to the first half of 2026. For example, the revenue was at a record $374 million in the first quarter, decreasing to $351 million and $326 million in the following quarters. Similar tendencies were observed for the adjusted EBITDA: it went down from $69 million to $68 million and then to $44 million.

Digital growth of 4.8% in revenue in the third quarter did not meet the level of 6.3% observed for nine months. In February, Reeg said that separation of the digital division is unlikely due to current market conditions. Digital accounts for 11% of the revenue but just 5% of the adjusted EBITDA.

Las Vegas Performs Poorly While Regional Properties Do Well

The revenue increased 5.9% to $1.627 billion and the adjusted EBITDA grew 3.6% to $524 million. Las Vegas performed worse. The revenue decreased by 2.3%, while the adjusted EBITDA decreased 9.5% to $343 million. Managed and branded revenue fell 20.5% to $58 million, being the largest fall among other segments.

Las Vegas adjusted EBITDA was already down 19% to $379 million in 2025. According to Caesars, the reduction was caused by decreased visitation and bad table game performance. In 2025, Las Vegas attracted 38.5 million visitors, which was 7.5% less than in 2024.

In February, Tom Reeg, Caesars’ CEO, commented on the issue. “There’s really no crisis happening in Vegas,” Reeg said at Caesars’ Q4 2025 & Full-Year Earnings Call. “It’s normal cyclicality, it will play itself out.”

Nine months into 2026, however, the Las Vegas adjusted EBITDA continued to fall and reached $1.18 billion.

The Fertitta Deal Leaving Caesars in an Awkward Silence

Fertitta Entertainment struck a deal back on May 28th to buy Caesars for $31 a share in cash. In total the takeover is valued at a whopping $17.6 billion, which includes the $11.9 billion in debt that Caesars is carrying. Some were saying that Fertitta had actually approached Caesars about this potential merger way back in 2018, stories which emerged in May.

Caesars shareholders gave their thumbs up to the deal on September 22nd. The vote went in Caesars’ favour, with 133.3 million shares voting in favour and a mere 4.3 million going against.

The merger agreement sets a deadline for completing the deal of June 26th 2027, but rather than calling it a closing date, they’ve been a bit more vague about that. If the takeover doesn’t get wrapped up by then, eligible shareholders will get an extra $0.00715 per day, starting from July 1st onwards. Still, regulatory approval is still needed, and the US Federal Trade Commission has asked for more information in September.

Fertitta also happens to own the Houston Rockets. Now, some state rules say that sportsbooks can’t take bets on teams owned by their own owners, things that would have to sort themselves out once the acquisition closes. Last May, it was reported that any restrictions on Rockets betting would depend on whether the takeover actually comes off.

Carl Icahn had been trying to get in on the action with a $33 per share offer, subject to due diligence. Caesars hasn’t said anything about what the fourth quarter will look like or how they’re doing for the rest of 2026.

Expert Takes Two Promises Caesars Still Can’t Explain

In our view, Caesars can’t just write off the poor performance in Las Vegas as just a normal up-and-down cycle. They’ve seen adjusted EBITDA going down year on year in every single quarter so far in 2026, and visitor numbers actually fell by 7.5% last year. Now, management has got a fairly good argument to the effect that group business has been doing pretty well, so that might help, but when you compare against 2025, things look very different. Then again, there was a bit of a low base to start with.

Our second major concern is that Caesars’ long-standing digital EBITDA target of $500 million which they set way back when, seems to be slipping out of reach. Back in July 2025, Reeg called it “the $500 million target we’ve all been talking about” and he said the company was still on track.

The problem now is, what exactly does that target refer to? If it’s full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA then Caesars would have to come up with $319 million in the fourth quarter, no mean feat when you consider their previous record for a single quarter is just $85 million.

If on the other hand the target refers to an exit run rate, as one analyst interpreted it, then Caesars would need to generate about $125 million per quarter. Either way, the third quarter result of $44 million falls well short. And Caesars didn’t even mention the target in their latest earnings release.

Our take is that Caesars is going to miss the digital EBITDA target, and they still haven’t clarified which interpretation they were working to. They could argue that changes in sportsbook hold and the upcoming football season will lift fourth quarter results. Even if that is the case though, they’ve still got to beat the current quarterly record of $85 million, and that’s a pretty tall order.

Debt makes up two-thirds of the total purchase price of $17.6 billion, which makes Caesars’ interest bill a major issue in the deal. Caesars shareholders were pretty much united in approving the $ 31-a-share offer, but it’s worth noting that Carl Icahn’s conditional offer of $33 a share shows that the agreed price didn’t get a universal thumbs up.