Accel Reports 9% Illinois Hold-Per-Day Growth

The Tip Desk · November 10, 2026 · 3 min read

Third-quarter revenue reached a record $364 million, up 10%, as Illinois excluding Fairmount Park posted 7% growth and hold-per-day rose about 9%.

Accel Entertainment, Inc. (ACEL), a locals-focused gaming operator, reported third-quarter revenue of $364 million, up 10% from a year earlier, matching the 10% year-over-year pace of the second quarter and after 9% growth in the first quarter.

Net income was $21 million, up 55% from a year earlier. The result included a $6 million gain on the change in the fair value of contingent earnout shares, $3.6 million higher than the gain in the year-ago quarter, and a $0.6 million loss on the sale of fixed assets related to asset rationalization. Adjusted EBITDA rose 12% to a third-quarter record $57 million.

Chief executive Mark Phelan said the company delivered another period of double-digit revenue growth and that Adjusted EBITDA again grew faster than revenue, reflecting operating leverage, portfolio quality, capital deployment and execution.

Illinois remained the core of the business. Illinois net revenues were $257.9 million. Excluding Fairmount Park, Illinois revenue increased about 7% year-over-year, faster than the 6% increase the company cited in both the second and first quarters. Hold-per-day in Illinois rose about 9%. Illinois distributed locations ended at 2,685, down 1.6% from a year earlier, and Illinois machines ended at 15,519, down 0.8%. Illinois location hold-per-day was $957, up 9.2%. The company said the Illinois result reflected continued hold-per-day improvement and a higher-performing location mix after pruning lower-performing locations.

Fairmount Park gaming revenue increased approximately 84% year-over-year in the third quarter.

Developing markets contributed the rest of the growth. Nevada net revenues were $32.9 million, up from $26.2 million a year earlier, as Nevada locations rose 49.5% to 553 and Nevada machines rose 48.7% to 4,099. Nevada location hold-per-day fell 16.5% to $613. Nebraska net revenues were $12.1 million, with hold-per-day up 31.9% to $405. Louisiana net revenues were $11.3 million, with hold-per-day up 15.1% to $1,125. Georgia net revenues were $7.2 million, with hold-per-day up 24.7% to $182.

Total locations ended at 4,705, up 5.7% from 4,451 a year earlier, and total electronic gaming machines ended at 29,548, up 6.6%. Total gross margin percentage was 31.38%. All-other-state splits, revenues and fees were 28.10%.

Cash generation recovered after the second-quarter tax-credit purchase. Operating cash flow was $79 million and free cash flow was $62 million in the third quarter, after the company received a refund on $18 million of federal tax credits purchased in the second quarter for $17 million. Second-quarter operating cash flow had been $20 million and free cash flow $10 million. Cash and cash equivalents were $294 million, total debt $566 million and net debt $272 million as of September 30, 2026.

The company repurchased approximately 624,000 shares of Accel Class A-1 common stock in the third quarter for $7.2 million.

As of July 2026, the City of Chicago and Wyoming are considered emerging markets. Phelan said the company recently completed the build-out of its senior leadership team and that the Chicago rollout has begun with the receipt of first licenses.