Our financial results are dependent upon the number of patrons that we attract to our properties and the amounts those guests spend per visit. While we provide credit at some of our casinos where permitted by local gaming regulations, most of our customers wager with cash or pay for non-gaming services with cash or credit cards. Our revenues are primarily derived from slot machines, but also include table games, keno, and sports betting. In addition, we receive a significant amount of revenue from our hotels and our food and beverage outlets. We also derive revenues from our golf course at Rising Star, our recreational vehicle parks (“RV parks”) as owned at Rising Star and managed at Silver Slipper, our ferry service at Rising Star, and retail outlets and entertainment. We often provide hotel rooms, food and beverages, entertainment, ferry usage, and golf privileges to customers on a complimentary basis; the value of such services is included as revenue in those categories, offset by contra-revenue in the casino revenue category. As a result, the casino revenues in our financial statements reflect patron gaming wins and losses, reduced by the retail value of complimentary services, the value of free play provided to customers, the value of points earned by casino customers that can be redeemed for services or free play, and adjustments for certain progressive jackpots offered by the Company.
We may experience significant fluctuations in our quarterly operating results due to seasonality, variations in gaming hold percentages and other factors. Consequently, our operating results for any quarter or year are not necessarily comparable and may not be indicative of future periods’ results.
Our market environment is highly competitive and capital-intensive. Nevertheless, there are significant restrictions and barriers to entry vis-à-vis opening new casinos in most of the markets in which we operate. We rely on the ability of our properties to generate operating cash flow to pay interest, repay debt, and fund maintenance and certain growth-related capital expenditures. We continuously focus on improving the operating margins of our existing properties through a combination of revenue growth and expense management. We also assess growth and development opportunities, which include capital investments at our existing properties, the development of new properties, and the acquisition of existing properties.
Recent Developments
COVID-19 Pandemic Update. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve. Governmental authorities continue to update their precautionary measures and promote vaccination programs to manage the spread of the virus as different variants of the virus surface and subside. We have generally benefited from the relaxation of pandemic-related business restrictions since 2021.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic and certain precautionary and stimulus measures, as well as other factors, have created economic uncertainty both in the United States and globally, as well as significant volatility in, and disruption to, financial markets, labor markets and supply chains. Global supply chain disruptions and other world events have resulted in shipping delays, increased shipping costs, supply shortages, and inflationary pressures, including increases in prices for fuel, food, building materials, and other items. These increased costs, labor shortages, and supply shortages continued to put additional constraints on our operating business and our construction projects for the nine months ended September 30, 2022. We do not know when, or if, these cost, labor, and supply chain issues will materially alleviate and, accordingly, they may continue to impact our existing business and our construction projects.
At the same time, government stimulus checks and infrastructure packages can positively affect our businesses. The timing and scale of such packages, however, is inconsistent amongst periods and such government programs are uncertain to continue into the future at the same levels that they have in the past, if at all.
We believe that as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, the direct and indirect impacts on global macro-economic conditions, as well as conditions specific to us, are becoming more difficult to isolate or quantify. In addition, these direct and indirect factors can make it difficult to isolate and quantify the portion of our costs that are a direct result of the pandemic versus costs arising from factors that may have been influenced by the pandemic, including supply chain constraints, inflationary pressures, labor shortages, and changes in the spending pattern of customers. These factors and their effects on our operations may persist for a longer period, even after the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided.