ragnarisapirate Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 Nevada Gold. Here is a company that I am pretty bullish on, which seems to have a bunch of catalysts. Having not been to any of their facilities (which, really, kinda erks me), I was curious if anyone had been to any of their operations... They have a bunch of mini-casinos in Washington State- I hear that several board members live out there and wondered what they thought of them. Here are their Washington ops. http://www.silverdollarcasinos.com/main.html http://www.crazymoosecasinos.com/ http://www.crazymoosecasino2.com/ http://www.coyotebobsrhcasino.com/ They operate the Colorado Grand, too (which, is aptly named after it's location): http://www.coloradogrande.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragnarisapirate Posted October 19, 2010 Author Share Posted October 19, 2010 As a side note, if anyone has any thoughts on the security or industry, feel free to send them my way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QLEAP Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 I own a tiny bit of Century Casinos (CNTY) and their Colorado operations are not doing that great. Calgary, Canada seems to be a sweet spot - the returns historically have been really good. Still, it's going to be a while before regional casino stocks move up and the CNTY management doesn't seem to be interested in buying back shares at such low prices.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragnarisapirate Posted October 20, 2010 Author Share Posted October 20, 2010 I own a tiny bit of Century Casinos (CNTY) and their Colorado operations are not doing that great. Calgary, Canada seems to be a sweet spot - the returns historically have been really good. Still, it's going to be a while before regional casino stocks move up and the CNTY management doesn't seem to be interested in buying back shares at such low prices.. It's unfortunate that CNTY is not buying back shares... It does seem that the company is REALLY attractive on a p/b level, but, is unfortunately like the rest of the industry in bad shape in generating profits without a ton of leverage. I really like all the cash they have. I know that the Colorado gaming market seems to be pretty saturated; heck, our companies are competitors of one another in Cripple Creek! I assume that CNTY's operations were effected there when the Wildwood opened up, too. But, I suppose that like in many industries, the ultimate solution for low earnings, is low earnings. If the industry does turn around due to consumers gambling more, rather than companies closing up shop/going out of business, the levered up guys will do disproportionaly well (an obvious conclusion). I would be surprised if the industry didn't see an uptick in earnings due to spending and QE2; when, though, I don't know. Furthermore, I think that any one expanding like UWN is trying to, will do quite well. They seem to be the Biglari of the casino world; buying things and fixing them. Does CNTY have some sort of expansion plan on the table? Additionally, do you think that the industry is going to see an uptick in earnings and such in the near future? Why wouldn't these 2 companies merge? On the face of things, seems like they would do quite well together; admittedly though, I havn't read much on CNTY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QLEAP Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 CNTY has made some smart moves the past three years - they sold their South African operations just before the crash for a good sum and acquired a auctioned casino in Calgary during the downturn very cheap ! The casino is recently renovated and this will add nicely to their income over the next few months. The one issue is that they own 33% of Casinos Poland and they are looking to acquire the entire stake - that partly explains their cash hoard. As far as I know, the Poland casino returns have been average and the Govt recently raised taxes - they must find something attractive that I don't. But it is too cheap IMO and I am willing to wait another year or so to see how this one plays out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragnarisapirate Posted October 25, 2010 Author Share Posted October 25, 2010 CNTY has made some smart moves the past three years - they sold their South African operations just before the crash for a good sum and acquired a auctioned casino in Calgary during the downturn very cheap ! The casino is recently renovated and this will add nicely to their income over the next few months. The one issue is that they own 33% of Casinos Poland and they are looking to acquire the entire stake - that partly explains their cash hoard. As far as I know, the Poland casino returns have been average and the Govt recently raised taxes - they must find something attractive that I don't. But it is too cheap IMO and I am willing to wait another year or so to see how this one plays out. Have you talked to management about the acquisition of the remaining polish shares? they recently took a hefty write down, and, it looks like they are presently giving the share a 10x earning multiple, though, we don't know exactly how they are reporting the earnings from the stake (eg, if a dividend was paid, how much were left in casinos poland bank from earnings?). Can the rest of the operations be had for ~$5 million, as a result? furthermore, what kind of EBITDA and revenue numbers could we be looking at? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QLEAP Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 No, I have not talked to the management about the Polish stake. They had hired GS for M&A but that fell out when Polish Govt raised taxes and they are back to the drawing board again. Its hard to find out more about this, should be a good conf call this quarter. I think they can make ~60m revenues and 9-10m EBITDA this year if the Calgary casino operations are in full swing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragnarisapirate Posted December 7, 2010 Author Share Posted December 7, 2010 Does anyone have access to this full report? http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Institutional-Investor-Ranked-twst-3620065651.html?x=0&.v=1 It's from the wall st transcript online. Earnings are getting ready to come out too. I expect that they will earn money, provided that you take out 1 time expenses (which may still be coming as a result of the newly acquired casinos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gfp Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Thanks for posting this one - it appears someone else has discovered this stock recently. I like the management a lot at this place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twacowfca Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 These companies are in the business of fleecing their customers. Why should we think they will do a 180 turn in attitude in their orientation to their shareholders? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkbabang Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 These companies are in the business of fleecing their customers. Why should we think they will do a 180 turn in attitude in their orientation to their shareholders? That is just untrue. I don't own any casino stocks, but I wouldn't characterize the business as "fleecing their customers". Everyone knows that the odds in a casino favor the house, yet people choose to go anyway. No one goes to a casino expecting to win, they go hoping to win. It is entertainment. I could characterize the Boston Red Sox charging $95+ per seat (for a decent seat) at Fenway as "fleecing its customers". You pay hundreds of dollars for your seats and food, then you don't even have a chance of winning any money or of even seeing the team win (this year). What people willingly pay for entertainment is up to them. As long as there is no fraud involved and they aren't coming to my house dragging me out at gun point and making me gamble at their establishment, there are no ethical problems with casino gambling. The one problem I do have with casino gambling in many states is the cozy relationship the casinos have with the governments. It isn't fair that company A can open up a casino is state X, but no one else can. If gambling is legal it should be as easy for absolutely anyone to open up a casino as it is to open a convenience store. I don't believe special state grants of monopoly privileges to the few over the many are moral in any industry for any reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jegenolf Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 These companies are in the business of fleecing their customers. Why should we think they will do a 180 turn in attitude in their orientation to their shareholders? That is just untrue. I don't own any casino stocks, but I wouldn't characterize the business as "fleecing their customers". Everyone knows that the odds in a casino favor the house, yet people choose to go anyway. No one goes to a casino expecting to win, they go hoping to win. It is entertainment. I could characterize the Boston Red Sox charging $95+ per seat (for a decent seat) at Fenway as "fleecing its customers". You pay hundreds of dollars for your seats and food, then you don't even have a chance of winning any money or of even seeing the team win (this year). What people willingly pay for entertainment is up to them. As long as there is no fraud involved and they aren't coming to my house dragging me out at gun point and making me gamble at their establishment, there are no ethical problems with casino gambling. The one problem I do have with casino gambling in many states is the cozy relationship the casinos have with the governments. It isn't fair that company A can open up a casino is state X, but no one else can. If gambling is legal it should be as easy for absolutely anyone to open up a casino as it is to open a convenience store. I don't believe special state grants of monopoly privileges to the few over the many are moral in any industry for any reason. Just because casinos are legal doesn't mean that they are ethical nor does it mean that the people going to casinos understand they are simply paying a variable amount for entertainment. If you believe that, I have some Efficient Market Theory I'd like to sell you. No rational person would buy a lottery ticket. But somehow they keep selling. So yes, casinos are legal. But so are cigarettes. And so is being Paul Ryan. All of them are profitable but they also all provide negative utility to the vast majority of their customers. I'm not saying gambling should be illegal (although government-run lotteries should be...), but it's not unthinkable to infer something about a person by the way they choose to make a living. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkbabang Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 So yes, casinos are legal. But so are cigarettes. And so is being Paul Ryan. All of them are profitable but they also all provide negative utility to the vast majority of their customers. In your opinion, not theirs. Nothing in the entertainment industry is a necessary expenditure, and therefor can be looked on as a negative utility to someone who doesn't enjoy it. As for cigarettes I would put sugar in the same category, only more people are addicted to it. I wouldn't presume to tell someone what they could or couldn't put into their own body though. If someone wants something there is nothing unethical about providing it. The only exception being if it directly hurts a third party (i.e. if someone wants someone else dead, you shouldn't provide that service for them). --Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jegenolf Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 So yes, casinos are legal. But so are cigarettes. And so is being Paul Ryan. All of them are profitable but they also all provide negative utility to the vast majority of their customers. In your opinion, not theirs. Nothing in the entertainment industry is a necessary expenditure, and therefor can be looked on as a negative utility to someone who doesn't enjoy it. As for cigarettes I would put sugar in the same category, only more people are addicted to it. I wouldn't presume to tell someone what they could or couldn't put into their own body though. If someone wants something there is nothing unethical about providing it. The only exception being if it directly hurts a third party (i.e. if someone wants someone else dead, you shouldn't provide that service for them). --Eric This isn't gonna be productive, but I'll go one more time. You're ignoring the difference between gambling and other forms of entertainment, namely that a large percentage of the the consumers are unable to accurately determine the price and thus cannot determine the utility. Do you think that scratch tickets with an expected payout of 60% (like most of the US state lotteries) are taking advantage of people who are bad at math? If not, then we just have different definitions of ethics. If so, then casinos are simply shades of gray. There's no point in discussing that further. You are assuming that people are capable of perfectly rational decisions and I'm assuming they are not. That was my point on EMT. And to conflate sugar and cigarettes is absurd and I would hope intellectually dishonest. Water can kill you if you drink too much of it. So? I know lots of people who use sugar effectively. The only people I know who use tobacco effectively are non-users. It is not the job of the producer to ensure that the product is not abused. But I find it ethically dubious to provide a product to people that can only be abused. I wasn't putting casinos in the same category as cigarettes, I was just proving the point that legality is beside the point. But you defended cigarettes as ethically justifiable which is surprising to me, but I guess it shouldn't be. But mostly this: If someone wants something there is nothing unethical about providing it. The only exception being if it directly hurts a third party (i.e. if someone wants someone else dead, you shouldn't provide that service for them). illustrates that we'll never see eye to eye on this. That is speaking in pretty strong absolutes stated as facts that needless to say I don't agree with. So we move on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragnarisapirate Posted April 8, 2011 Author Share Posted April 8, 2011 The recent earnings results were totally expected, and the company should be doing well over time. Because the odds are so heavily stacked in the company's favor, and it is a cheaply priced stock relative to it's prospects, I am a shareholder. I, like the management of UWN, care about making money. If you really want to get into it, virtually every company does things that are shady... Some highlights: 1) Gold producers often destroy ecosystems. 2) Diamond producers occasionally kill their employees, and even if a diamond goes through the Kimberly process, you are just artificially inflating the price of diamonds for warlords to take advantage of. 3) Archer Daniel Midland and the sugar producers have lobbied the government to create a sugar monopoly which makes high fructose corn syrup get put in everything we eat; which, is arguably killing a lot of us, since we don't believe in moderation in America. 4) Coca Cola, Steak 'n Shake, McDonalds and the like, all sell products that contributes to early death, and are addictive on some level. 5) Chiquita Banana paid off a terrorist organization in the past few years. 6) USG went bankrupt over health claims 7) BP nearly destroyed the Gulf, XOM nearly destroyed Alaska... The list could go on and on. I would be willing to bet that everyone on this board is presently, or has been invested in a company with some miss givings. Do we not own stock in fast food companies because they kill people? Do we not give gold and diamond jewelry because of ethical concerns? If Nevada Gold was forcing their patrons to come in, then, that would be one thing... But playing off of people's stupidity is something that most every company does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragnarisapirate Posted April 11, 2011 Author Share Posted April 11, 2011 http://ragnarisapirate.blogspot.com/2011/04/more-gold-for-nevada-gold.html Thought you guys might like to read an update on the operations, as well as some info on the potential for changing legislation in washington. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragnarisapirate Posted July 20, 2011 Author Share Posted July 20, 2011 My newest write up, with detailed analysis of the casinos that they acquired last year... Additionally, they just closed on another casino in the past few days. This company has had about as big of a transformation as possible in the past 6 years, while still remaining in the same industry. http://ragnarisapirate.blogspot.com/2011/07/future-of-nevada-gold-casinos-sitting.html Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragnarisapirate Posted October 4, 2011 Author Share Posted October 4, 2011 An analysis of the potential legislation regarding electronic scratch tickets in Washington State, and the tremendous effects that it could have for UWN. http://ragnarisapirate.blogspot.com/2011/10/big-deal-electronic-scratch-ticket.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prunes Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 The 10-k is out. Updated thoughts on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTEJD1997 Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 Hey all: Anybody here own/know of Nevada Gold & Casinos? My friend Ragnar, who is a pirate! has some excellent posts on this on his website. It is kind of far back in the archives though. I encourage you to check out the blog, "Ragnar is a Pirate" if you wish to go into further depth about UWN... My take is that UWN is in the early stages of a recovery and strengthening of the balance sheet. UWN is a "micro" casino company. The own a string of casino in WA state that are really more card rooms. They also own a slot machine route out in the Dakotas. They have some other assorted assets. They really screwed up, getting gold mines, Brazilian Pizza Huts, and whatever else caught management's eye. Everything except thing turned out to be a poor investment. New management was brought in. They pared down assets by selling them. They significantly paid down debt, and saved the company. Unfortunately, after that, their eye started to wander too! They improved the company, but they could not get traction. The company posted a string of losses (small) and spent a lot of time working on potential projects that were too big for the company to accomplish.....Low and behold, a new CEO was brought in, Mr Shaunnessy. I own shares, have attended the shareholder meeting and have spoken with the new CEO, Mr. Shaunnessy, at length. I must say I am impressed. Mr. Shaunessy has a background in finance and accounting. He is going to focus on cashflow and paying down the debt. THESE ARE THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF THE COMPANY. No more acquisitions for the near future. Just working on what the company already owns. The company has revenue of about $65MM. They are probably one of the cheapest casino casinos on a price to sales ratio. They have the revenue, they just need to convert it to earnings... Also, the balance sheet is levered with too much high interest debt. The company owes about $15MM...AT 11% INTEREST!!!!! If the company simply uses cash flow to pay off 11% debt, we are going to see results very quickly. After a year or so, it might be possible to refinance this debt. What if they can pay down $4MM and then refinance the remaining $11MM at 8%? Shareholders would see an improve to earnings of about $750k a year! That would translate into something like $.05/share in additional savings/earnings. We can see further results if some of the non-productive assets get sold...UWN owns undeveloped land. They also have a note from a stalled Indian Casino project...They also have some other small assets that might potentially pay a small amount... There has also been talk of expanding the card rooms in WA state to allow slot machines...maybe? maybe not? If it does go through, that would be HUGE for the stock. I think it might eventually go through, but it is a long shot... The latest quarter they earned $.01/share and the stock spiked up a bit as that was a positive development. It appears that the company is on the right track. Earnings will be coming out soon, and we will see if forward progress continues. I think that if management works existing assets, and pays down/refinances the debt. This COULD be earning maybe $.15/share a year from now. Definitely a speculative play, but I think there is potential here. Any thoughts or ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTEJD1997 Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 Hey all: UWN reported earnings the other day of $.03/share. They were even better than what I was expecting. Management has done an EXCELLENT job of running the company these past few months. In addition to the net earnings, they have paid down debt by just over $2MM. This is a significant amount, as it is about 12.5% of outstanding debt. Management also explained operations in a bit more detail. They may have the undeveloped land sold, as it is under option. They are also working on getting the debt refinanced by lowering the interest rate and extending the term. Remember, outstanding debt is approximately 11%. Management is working on getting it cut by HUNDREDS of basis points. I'm thinking that might be from 11% to 8%. If that can be accomplished, that will result in savings of at least $300k a year, which is substantial for a company this size. Perhaps the most important thing of all is that the stock price has gone up by about 30% since my first post on it. Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTEJD1997 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Hey all: UWN released earnings the other day, and they were reasonably good. Perhaps the most important thing is that they have refinanced their high yield debt. The debt was just over 11%, and they refinanced it at about 6.5%. This will yield significant savings going forward. The refinance of the debt was one of the catalysts that I wrote about in my writeup on the soapbox. The stock has jumped from $1.10 to just over $1.30. Hopefully UWN will be able to keep up the progress. If so, the stock still has a lot of runway left. Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gg Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 DTEJD - Any thoughts on the most recent numbers? Revenue has come down a bit, but numbers don't yet reflect the full benefit of the refinancing. The whole delaying of the conference call a day due to a number in the financials being off never inspires too much confidence... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTEJD1997 Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Hey all: It pains me to say that I've lost faith in this company. I think my investment thesis is no longer valid. It chafes me how they handled their latest earnings call. Strictly "amateur hour". If they can't get the numbers right in time, HOW ARE THEY GOING TO MAKE MONEY!!!!???? How are they going to take market share and grow shareholder equity (that is trading for a HUGE discount)? Is this representative of how they operate the other aspects of their business? Even more important than that...they lost money. Revenue was down, earnings are down. There is no more "juice" in the tank! What will they do for an encore? There is nothing more to be wrung out of the WA casinos. The Dakota routes are EBIDTA negative...The debt is refinanced...What is next? NOTHING. To be fair to management, they are trying...but they have used all the arrows in their quiver. This is a worse business than I thought. The skill of management is not sufficiently high enough to overcome the "negative" aspects of the industry. Of course, maybe they get bought out, maybe WA allows slot machines? Maybe one of their notes pays off in full? Maybe, but I just don't see it. I'm going to take my now MODEST gains and move on. Please accept my apologies for writing this company up...I usually have better results than this. Good luck everybody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTEJD1997 Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 I almost forgot to mention!!!!!!! MANAGEMENT/INSIDERS DID NOT BUY ANY STOCK THIS LAST QUARTER! Why would they? They know better... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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