Nature of Business

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

Golden Entertainment, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries own and operate a diversified entertainment platform, consisting of a portfolio of gaming assets that focus on casino and distributed gaming operations (including gaming in the Company’s branded taverns). The Company’s portfolio includes ten casino properties located in Nevada and Maryland. The Company’s Nevada tavern segment is comprised of the operation of its branded taverns targeting local patrons located primarily in the greater Las Vegas, Nevada metropolitan area. The Company’s distributed gaming operations involve the installation, maintenance and operation of slot machines and amusement devices in third-party non-casino locations such as restaurants, bars, taverns, convenience stores, liquor stores and grocery stores in Nevada and Montana. Unless otherwise indicated, the terms “Golden” and the “Company,” refer to Golden Entertainment, Inc. together with its subsidiaries.

The Company conducts its business through five reportable segments: Nevada Casino Resorts, Nevada Locals Casinos, Maryland Casino Resort, Nevada Taverns, and Distributed Gaming. Each reportable segment is comprised of the following properties and operations:


Reportable Segment						Location
Nevada Casino Resorts
The STRAT Hotel, Casino & SkyPod (“The STRAT”)						Las Vegas, Nevada
Aquarius Casino Resort (“Aquarius”)						Laughlin, Nevada
Edgewater Hotel & Casino Resort (“Edgewater”)						Laughlin, Nevada
Colorado Belle Hotel & Casino Resort (“Colorado Belle”) (1)						Laughlin, Nevada

Nevada Locals Casinos
Arizona Charlie’s Boulder						Las Vegas, Nevada
Arizona Charlie’s Decatur						Las Vegas, Nevada
Gold Town Casino						Pahrump, Nevada
Lakeside Casino & RV Park						Pahrump, Nevada
Pahrump Nugget Hotel Casino (“Pahrump Nugget”)						Pahrump, Nevada

Maryland Casino Resort
Rocky Gap Casino Resort (“Rocky Gap”)						Flintstone, Maryland

Nevada Taverns
64 branded tavern locations						Nevada

Distributed Gaming
Nevada distributed gaming						Nevada
Montana distributed gaming						Montana

(1) The operations of the Colorado Belle remain suspended.

On August 24, 2022, the Company entered into definitive agreements to sell Rocky Gap to Century Casinos, Inc. (“Century”) and VICI Properties, L.P. (“VICI”), an affiliate of VICI Properties Inc., for aggregate consideration of $260.0 million (the “Rocky Gap Transactions”). Specifically, Century agreed to acquire the operations of Rocky Gap from Golden for $56.1 million in cash (subject to adjustment based on Rocky Gap’s working capital and cage cash at closing), subject to the conditions and terms set forth therein, and VICI agreed to acquire the real estate assets relating to Rocky Gap from Golden for $203.9 million in cash, subject to the conditions and terms set forth therein. The Rocky Gap Transactions are required by their terms to close concurrently and the Company expects the Rocky Gap Transactions to close during the second quarter of 2023, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions. Refer to discussion in “Note 3 — Assets Held for Sale ” for further information.

Impact of COVID-19

As of December 31, 2022, all of the Company’s properties were open other than the Colorado Belle (whose operations remain suspended), and none of the Company’s casino properties or distributed gaming locations were subject to COVID-19 operating restrictions. Despite the resurgence of Omicron variants during 2022, the Company’s casino properties and distributed gaming operations experienced positive trends during the first half of 2022, including an increase in occupancy of hotel rooms and guest visitation following the removal of COVID-19 mitigation measures. The Company’s results of operations in the second half of 2021 also benefited from pent-up demand following the easing of COVID-19 mitigation measures and the effect of government stimulus on discretionary consumer spending. Future COVID-19 variants, mandates, restrictions or mitigation measures imposed by governmental authorities or regulatory bodies are uncertain and could have a significant impact on the Company’s future operations.

Temporary closures of the Company’s operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in lease concessions for certain of the Company’s branded taverns and route locations in 2020, some of which continued in 2021. Such concessions provided for deferral and, in some instances, forgiveness of rent payments with no substantive amendments to the consideration due per the terms of the original contract and did not result in substantial changes in the Company’s obligations under such leases. The Company elected to account for the deferred rent as variable lease payments, which resulted in a reduction of the rent expense of $2.3 million and $11.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Rent expense that was not forgiven was recorded in future periods as those deferred payments were paid to the Company’s lessors.