Harrah’s Entertainment saw its second-quarter profit grow 17%, and attributed it in part to increased gambling activity by members of its loyalty club.
Gaming by Total Rewards members increased 12.9% from the year-ago quarter. The casino giant attributed this to overall higher traffic throughout the chain, not including the recently acquired Caesars Entertainment locations.
The results for the quarter ended June 30 included 17 days of contributions from Caesars Entertainment, which Harrah’s acquired in a gambling-industry record $9.44 billion deal. Though Harrah’s doubled its size by acquiring all 28 Caesars properties, Caesars’ loyalty club members have not been integrated into the Total Rewards database yet.
Once merged, Total rewards will have an estimated 40 million members (PROMO P&I, July 20).
Harrah’s second quarter revenue was $1.47 billion, up 42% from $1.04 billion one year ago. Its net income grew to $105.8 million, up from last year’s $90.2 million.
Though Harrah’s runs consumer promotions to drive Total Rewards membership, those efforts were not the sole reason play was up, said Harrah’s spokesman David Strow.
“If anything, I think it shows that our members see the value of the Total Rewards program,” he said.
Still, the nationwide “Winning Will Find You” campaign could have sparked second quarter growth in Total Rewards. The program, which also ran in the second quarter of 2004, gave consumers enrolling on-site in Total Rewards a 12-pack of Coca-Cola and a free movie rental from Blockbuster. If a consumer got one of 38 specially marked cans, he or she won a trip to Atlantic City and was entered in a drawing for $1 million.
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