Revenue during the quarter went up marginally by 2.61 percent to $776.22 million from $756.45 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter expanded 149 basis points over the previous year period to 44.20 percent. Total expenses were 81.93 percent of quarterly revenues, up from 81.42 percent for the same period last year. That has resulted in a contraction of 50 basis points in operating margin to 18.07 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $140.29 million, compared with $140.53 million in the previous year period.

However, the adjusted EBITDA for the quarter stood at $221.71 million compared with $212.88 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted EBITDA margin improved 42 basis points in the quarter to 28.56 percent from 28.14 percent in the last year period.

Timothy J. Wilmott, Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Penn National delivered a strong first quarter with operating results exceeding both our original and updated guidance. Throughout the quarter we made continued progress against our primary strategic initiatives as we continued to ramp the results of newer properties and again grew consolidated property operating margins. Our results also benefited from last year’s accretive acquisition of Rocket Speed and our recently expanded retail gaming operations which led to substantial year-over-year Adjusted EBITDA growth at both Penn Interactive Ventures and Prairie State Gaming. In addition, we reduced net debt, commenced our share repurchase program and announced another accretive tuck-in acquisition. Our solid first quarter results highlight the significant operating leverage in our model, and we believe Penn National remains well positioned to drive further free cash flow growth from any improvements in consumer spending.”

For the second-quarter 2017, Penn National Gaming, Inc expects revenue to be $776.80 million and its expects net income to be $20.40 million and expects operating income to be $136.50 million  and expects diluted earnings per share to be $0.22.

For fiscal year 2017, Penn National Gaming expects revenue to be $3,066.10 million and its expects net income to be $55 million and expects operating income to be $538.80 million and expects diluted earnings per share to be $0.60.