Caesars’ Profit Jumps 97%; Lower Tax Rate, Improved Operations Credited

Hotel and gambling concern Caesars World Inc. said Monday that earnings soared 97% in the first quarter as all of its operations turned in improved results and its tax rate dropped sharply.

For the three months ended Oct. 31, the company earned $29.6 million, compared to a year earlier when it netted $15 million.

The Los Angeles company’s revenue rose 14.4% to $223.6 million from $195.5 million the year before.

Primarily as a result of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the company’s effective tax rate for the latest quarter decreased to about 38%, compared to about 47% in the year-earlier quarter.

Henry Gluck, Caesars World’s chairman and chief executive, said, “We are most pleased to report that this marked the 18th consecutive quarter in which our company’s pretax income before any unusual or extraordinary charges increased over the comparable prior-year period. Every one of our destination resorts showed significant improvement over the first quarter of fiscal 1987 with two of our operating entities reporting record contributions to earnings.”

Gluck said the major contributor to the company’s earnings improvement was Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, which showed a 50% increase in operating income to $27.7 million. The company also posted improved results at its hotel-casinos in Atlantic City, N.J., and Lake Tahoe and its resorts in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains.