Vici Raises Expectations After Strong Q1 With New Ventures

Gaming and entertainment-focused real estate investment trust Vici Properties posted a solid first quarter of 2025 with strong revenue growth and several new key partnerships, despite a near double-digit drop in earnings per share compared to last year. 

Vici reported a quarterly revenue of $984.2 million, up 3.4 percent year-over-year, in its latest earnings call on Thursday. The company has nearly 100 properties under its belt — including hotels, racetracks, golf courses, bowling alleys and some of the most recognizable casinos on the Las Vegas Strip — collectively valued at more than $45 billion. 

The REIT plans to expand the empire as well, having announced two collaborations with other experiential and gaming companies this past quarter. Vici in September provided a $300 million mezzanine loan toward Cain International’s One Beverly Hills megaproject in the Southern California enclave of the same name, kicking off a strategic partnership with Cain and investment firm Eldridge Industries. 

One Beverly Hills is already one of the biggest privately funded developments in the U.S., with a bankroll of over $5.2 billion. Ed Pitoniak, Vici’s CEO, told Commercial Observer in April that the deal was a chance to work with Cain and Eldridge on future experiential projects, such as the St. James, a sports, entertainment and wellness facility Eldridge owns near Washington, D.C.

Vici also entered into an agreement this past quarter to provide up to $510 million for the development of North Fork Mono Casino & Resort, on land owned by the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians of California tribe near Fresno, Calif. Affiliates of Red Rock Resorts will develop and manage the project, which is expected to open next summer. 

John Payne, Vici’s president and chief operating officer, told investors on Thursday’s earnings call that he has kept close eyes on Red Rock for years, even from the time Vici was founded in 2017, but the timing had never been right to collaborate on a project until now. The North Fork Mono development is the only project the two companies are currently collaborating on — for now.

“We have tremendous respect for how [Red Rock] run their company, how they develop their projects, how they build partnerships with tribal nations,” Payne said during the call’s question-and-answer segment. “We really like all of that. But to be clear, this is one opportunity and only one opportunity today. But we would hope or we would love the opportunity in the future, but no commitments.”

Not everything is perfect in Vici’s realm, however. The REIT’s earnings per share dropped 9 percent year-over-year to 51 cents, which was blamed on a change in its current expected credit loss allowance this past quarter. Vici’s stock price dropped by nearly 0.8 percent in after-hours trading on Wednesday following the announcement of its earnings numbers, and fell another 1.4 percent near the close of trading Thursday. 

Still, the REIT is projecting a strong year in 2025, slightly raising its adjusted funds from operations guidance for the year from between $2.46 billion to $2.49 billion, to $2.47 billion to $2.5 billion.

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.