Reef Casino (RCT) have posted estimated distributable 1H profit to June 30 of approximately 6.0 million. This isn’t far short of the previous 1H peak back in 2015.

This chart is adjusted to exclude items such as the impairments which were written off in the 1H 2020 result amid covid closure uncertainty and written back in the final 2020 result. It does though include JobKeeper amounts received in 2020.

Commentary from RCT with this announcement:

The operator of the Reef Hotel Casino in Cairns has reported profitable and strong trading for the first five months in 2021. This has resulted in strong rental income for the Trust. June trading has yet to conclude.
Local and domestic markets have held up well. Since just before Easter, Cairns has seen a return of interstate visitors in good numbers. International borders remain closed. The result partly reflects a degree of short term trading variability in table gaming.

I’m not sure what the comment on table games means. Previous commentary has indicated EGM’s (pokies) as the driver of the strong recovery. I haven’t updated the regional hotel and club pokie numbers for a while but there were some interesting regional trends in the May monthly numbers with previously rampant Cassowary Coast trading below 2019 levels for the first time post pandemic while Douglas Shire traded 50% above 2019 levels.

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