Mashantucket — Foxwoods Resort Casino's net revenues in the quarter that ended Dec. 31 totaled $159.9 million, an increase of 42.9% over the same period the year before, a quarterly report posted online Friday shows.

In terms of EBITDA, generally defined as earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, Foxwoods' year-over-year performance was even more dramatic, a reflection of COVID-19's impact on casino operations the previous year. Foxwoods’ EBITDA of $31.1 million in the last three months of 2021 — the first quarter of its 2022 fiscal year — was up 123.5% over the same three months in 2020.

In the casino industry, EBITDA is considered a more telling indicator of financial performance than net income, or profit.

Foxwoods’ operating expenses in the first quarter of its 2022 fiscal year were up 31.5%. Payroll costs were higher by $9.9 million, or 26.7%, as the casino recovered from COVID-19 restrictions that had caused it to keep some amenities and offerings closed a year earlier. During the recent quarter, Foxwoods employed the equivalent of 2,350 full-time workers, “a direct result of expanded capacity and resort footprint year over year,” the report says.

Gaming revenues were up 32.1% while nongaming revenues — food-and-beverage, hotels and “retail, entertainment and other” — were up 104.4%. Gross gaming revenue accounted for 76.2% of the casino’s total revenues during the quarter, down from 83.2%.

During the quarter, the long-term indebtedness of Foxwoods’ owners, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, grew to more than $2.1 billion, according to the report. A loan whose principal accounts for $244.3 million of the debt matures this month.

The tribe has been operating under a forbearance agreement with senior lenders since defaulting on the terms of a debt-restructuring plan in 2014. The agreement, which has been extended multiple times, also expires this month.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com