Pinnacle Entertainment has seen a 9.6% rise in first quarter revenues to $287.7 million and an operating income increase of 28.6%. In today’s report Pinnacle announced strong financial results for the first quarter ended 31 March 2011 and claimed that its continued focus on profitable revenue growth and operational excellence drove its improved operating margins and fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year consolidated adjusted EBITDA growth.

Revenues from Lumiere Palace and River City in St Louis increased 30.2% and there were significant improvements at Boomtown New Orleans and L’Auberge du Lac in Louisiana. There were modest EBITDA declines at Pinnacle’s other casino entertainment properties. Discontinued operations consist of the Company's Atlantic City, New Jersey operations, which are listed for sale; its former President Riverboat Casino in St. Louis, Missouri; its former Casino Magic Argentina operations; its former Casino Magic Biloxi, Mississippi operations; and its former Bahamian operations. For the three months ended March 31, 2011, Pinnacle recorded a loss of $2.2 million, net of income taxes, related to its discontinued operations. For the prior-year period, Pinnacle recorded a gain of $35.8 million, net of income taxes, related to its discontinued operations.

"We are pleased to report another quarter of year-over-year Adjusted EBITDA growth and continued improvements in operating margins," said Anthony Sanfilippo, Pinnacle Entertainment's President and Chief Executive Officer. "These improvements reflect the ongoing implementation of operating strategies focused on providing best-in-market experiences for our guests and improving our own internal processes. We continue to progress with better methods to improve operations and elevate the guest experience. In Louisiana, for example, our new shared services structure in the state included the creation of new marketing pods, allowing us to react more precisely to customers and competition locally, while still offering many of the benefits of a consolidated structure. Our shared services structure allows us to more effectively leverage management expertise across multiple properties.”

"Along with our focus on driving higher performance from our existing properties, we are deploying our resources to grow and further diversify the Company. Our strong balance sheet, significant growing free cash flow and development expertise provide Pinnacle with the resources to execute on return-focused developments that we believe will increase shareholder value," said Carlos Ruisanchez, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Pinnacle Entertainment. "We continue to make progress on our $357 million Baton Rouge casino hotel that is scheduled to open in 2012. The three casino hulls were recently moved from the shipyard to the project site along the Mississippi River and construction of the casino is underway. We are confident that our Baton Rouge facility --which will feature a 206-guestroom hotel, covered parking garage, casino with 1,500 slot machines and 51 table games, a multi-purpose event center, and unique dining and entertainment venues overlooking the river -- will quickly emerge as the best-in-market casino entertainment complex for Baton Rouge and the surrounding area when it opens next year.

The Baton Rouge project again has been delayed by around three months because of unusually high volatility of the Mississippi River. Previously it had been scheduled for completion in December this year but in February the company announced a Spring 2011 opening. The venue now is expected to open in the summer next year and the $357 million budget is said to remain on course. Mr. Sanfilippo concluded, "We are encouraged by the progress we are making through our focus on operational excellence. The re-launch [earlier this month] of our mychoice guest loyalty program provides us a catalyst to further drive profitable revenues. Certainly, any incremental rebound in consumer sentiment and spending will be additive to what we are achieving through our own initiatives and strategies." (E-04.28.11)

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