{"id":3516,"date":"2025-10-30T13:22:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T13:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/?p=3516"},"modified":"2025-10-30T13:22:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T13:22:23","slug":"shame-on-us-mgm-resorts-ceo-bill-hornbuckle-admits-pricing-missteps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/shame-on-us-mgm-resorts-ceo-bill-hornbuckle-admits-pricing-missteps","title":{"rendered":"\u201cShame on Us\u201d: MGM Resorts CEO Admits Pricing Missteps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/bill-hornbuckle.jpg\" alt=\"Bill Hornbuckle\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3517\" width=\"300\" title=\"\u201cShame on Us\u201d: MGM Resorts CEO Bill Hornbuckle Admits Pricing Missteps\" \/><strong>Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>CEO Bill Hornbuckle said the company \u201clost control of the narrative\u201d on resort fees, parking, and pricing, promising corrections.<\/li>\n<li>MGM posted $4.3 billion in Q3 2025 revenue, driven by strong results in Macau but softer performance in Las Vegas..<\/li>\n<li>The company withdrew its $2.3bn New York casino bid after licensing terms changed unexpectedly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>MGM Resorts International CEO <strong>Bill Hornbuckle<\/strong> didn\u2019t sugarcoat things during the company\u2019s third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, openly admitting that the company\u2019s pricing strategy had gotten out of touch with what guests were willing to pay.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>We just lost control of the narrative<\/em>\u201d, Hornbuckle said, acknowledging that some decisions were poorly calculated.<\/p>\n<p>He pointed to specific examples that drew criticism, like the <strong>$26 bottle of water or $12 coffee at Excalibur<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>When we think about pricing and things that got everyone\u2019s attention, whether it\u2019s the infamous bottle of water or Starbucks coffee at Excalibur that cost $12, shame on us. We should have been more sensitive to the overall experience at a place like Excalibur.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The CEO acknowledged that <strong>customers who paid aa rate of $29 per room should not have been sold $12 coffees<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We\u2019ve gone through the organization and we think, we hope, we believe, we\u2019ve price-corrected.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2 id=\"q3-revenue-up-2\">Q3 Revenue Up 2%<\/h2>\n<p>Despite the missteps, MGM Resorts reported $4.3 billion in <a href=\"https:\/\/s22.q4cdn.com\/513010314\/files\/doc_financials\/2025\/q3\/MGM-Exhibit-99-1-Q3-2025-Earning-Release-10-27-25-website.pdf\">revenue for the third quarter of 2025<\/a>, up 2% from last year. The biggest growth came from MGM China, where revenue rose 17% year-over-year to $1.1 billion.<\/p>\n<p>In Las Vegas, however, the picture isn\u2019t as bright. A recent report showed overall revenue on the Strip has declined, and Hornbuckle acknowledged that lower international travel and fewer flight options are taking a toll across all of their marketplaces, as well as Luxor and Excalibur.<\/p>\n<p>Still, Chief Operating Officer <strong>Corey Sanders<\/strong>, who plans to retire at the end of 2025, said most of MGM\u2019s resorts are holding steady. \u201c<em>You look at Bellagio, you wouldn\u2019t know anything was wrong with it<\/em>\u201d, he said, while talking about the high gaming volumes and the sometimes \u201c<em>more challenging<\/em>\u201d occupancy rates.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"out-of-ny-casino-bid\">Out of NY Casino Bid<\/h2>\n<p>The company also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/mgm-pulls-out-of-yonkers-casino-plan-leaving-city-stunned\">withdrew its bid for a New York casino license<\/a> earlier this month. MGM had planned a $2.3 billion expansion of its Empire City racino in Yonkers, but Hornbuckle said the terms of the deal changed unexpectedly.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The thing that concerned us probably the most was at the end, when we thought we were buying a 30-year license and were told it was 15. That was concerning\u2026 given overall market conditions, it\u2019s capital best spent at some other location and some other opportunity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Summary: CEO Bill Hornbuckle said the company \u201clost control of the narrative\u201d on resort fees, parking, and pricing, promising corrections. MGM posted $4.3 billion in Q3 2025 revenue, driven by strong results in Macau but softer performance in Las Vegas.. The company withdrew its $2.3bn New York casino bid after licensing terms changed unexpectedly. MGM [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-financial","category-industry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u201cShame on Us\u201d: MGM Resorts CEO Admits Pricing Missteps<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"MGM Resorts CEO Bill Hornbuckle admitted the company overpriced some fees and said adjustments are underway, as MGM reports solid earnings but backs out of its New York casino plans.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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