By Nate Wolf
Gambling is everywhere these days, leaving Las Vegas and one of its most famous brands feeling left behind. Shares of Caesars Entertainment tumbled 15.2% this past Wednesday after the casino operator reported disappointing quarterly earnings, driven in part by weak results in Las Vegas. Caesars is on pace for its fifth annual loss in six years.
While Caesars' regional casino revenue grew, Vegas revenue -- about a third of the total -- fell 9.8% from a year ago. "It was a difficult summer," CEO Tom Reeg said on the earnings call, citing "softness in leisure demand for Las Vegas." Caesars' Vegas revenue has now fallen for eight quarters.
The gambling industry is changing fast with online sports betting, prediction markets, and proliferating regional casinos. Companies took a hit in the pandemic. Some diversified. MGM Resorts International leaned into BetMGM, its iGaming venture with Entain, which has posted double-digit revenue growth. Wynn Resorts' Macau properties saw revenue up nearly 19% from 2023 to 2024 compared with its Vegas units' 3.7%. Las Vegas Sands doubled down on Macau and Singapore.
Caesars knows all of this. It started a digital segment last year that passed $1 billion in revenue, and bid for a New York City casino license, but saw its $5.4 billion plan for a Times Square Caesars Palace quashed. For now, the company is still betting on America's Playground. "We see Vegas coming back strongly," said Reeg hopefully.
Email: Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com
Last Week
Markets
Argentine President Javier Milei won midterm elections, bailing out the U.S. rescue of the peso. President Trump was in Asia talking trade while markets awaited the Federal Reserve interest-rate decision. On Monday, stocks rallied, with the S&P 500 up 1.23%. The Fed, as expected, cut rates by a quarter-point and ended quantitative tightening, but stocks fell as Chair Jerome Powell raised doubts about a December cut. Trump and China's Xi Jinping agreed to a one-year trade truce. Big Tech, led by Amazon.com and Apple, beat expectations; Nvidia's market value topped $5 trillion. On the week, the Dow industrials rose 0.75%; the S&P, 0.71%; and the Nasdaq Composite, 2.2%.
Companies
Amazon is laying off 14,000 as it turns to artificial intelligence. NextEra Energy partnered with Google to reopen an Iowa nuclear plant; Brookfield Asset Management agreed to restart two South Carolina nukes. Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft reported $80 billion in quarterly AI spending. Solstice Advanced Materials and Qnity Electronics replaced CarMax and Eastman Chemical in the S&P 500. John Malone is leaving as chairman of Liberty Media and Liberty Global.
Deals
Novartis is buying Avidity Biosciences for $12 billion... Huntington Bancshares said it would acquire Cadence Bank for $7.4 billion...Open-AI is giving Microsoft a 27% ownership stake valued at $135 billion... Novo Nordisk bid $9 billion for Metsera, topping Pfizer's $7.3 billion offer.
Next Week
Monday 11/3
Third-quarter earnings season has proved to be strong so far, with almost two-thirds of S&P 500 index companies having reported. More than 80% have beaten earnings-per-share estimates, while nearly 80% have surpassed sales expectations. This week sees another 132 S&P 500 companies reporting, starting with Palantir Technologies and Vertex Pharmaceuticals on Monday. Advanced Micro Devices, Amgen, Arista Networks, and Pfizer announce their results Tuesday, followed by AppLovin, McDonald's, Qualcomm, and Robinhood Markets on Wednesday. Airbnb and ConocoPhillips release their earnings on Thursday, and Constellation Energy, Duke Energy, and KKR round out the week on Friday.
The Institute for Supply Management releases both its Manufacturing and Services Purchasing Managers' Indexes for October. Consensus estimate for the Manufacturing PMI, released on Monday, is 49.4, slightly higher than in September. The Services PMI, released on Wednesday, is expected to show a 50.9 reading, compared with 50 previously.
Wednesday 11/5
ADP releases its National Employment for October. Economists forecast a 30,000 increase in private-sector employment, after a decline of 32,000 in September.
The Numbers
143%
IMF estimates of U.S. government debt as a percentage of GDP by 2030, from the current 125%.
119
Number of 2025 trading sessions when individual U.S. stocks swung by over $100 billion in value, a record.
$11,146
Copper's price per metric ton this past Wednesday, a record, buoyed by supply fears and trade-deal hopes.
3,508
Record number of individual billionaires worldwide in 2024, worth some $13.4 trillion, an increase of 10.3%.
Write to Robert Teitelman at bob.teitelman@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 31, 2025 20:10 ET (00:10 GMT)
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