Jonathan Halkyard
Chief Financial Officer at MGM Resorts International
Thanks very much, Bill. Let me start my remarks by also welcoming Gustaf and the over 900 LeoVegas employees to MGM Resorts. No doubt the future of LeoVegas is bright, and I'm confident this enterprise will serve as a meaningful contributor of talent and earnings to our company. I'd also like to echo Bill's comments and thank all of our employees for the second straight quarter of record results. Our people are the best in the business and they demonstrate that every day with the care they show for our guests.
Mow let's discuss our third quarter results in some detail. Our consolidated third quarter net revenues were $3.4 billion, an increase of 26% compared to 2021 despite the 70% revenue decline at MGM China due to closures and other COVID related limitations. On the Las Vegas Strip, topline demand was strong with same-store net revenues increasing 18% and same-store Adjusted Property EBITDAR up 8%. Occupancy was a major driver of the improvement year-over-year, reaching 93% for the quarter, the highest it's been since the start of the pandemic, an improvement -- and an improvement of over 1,000 basis-points year-over-year. The key driver of the occupancy gain is midweek demand which is returning to more normal levels as conventions and groups return. The value proposition of our group business supports our pricing power in Las Vegas. ADR hit a record $227 in the third quarter, an increase of 26% year-over-year.
We continuously work to optimize the hotel mix in our business. Over the past two years, we've increased the effectiveness of our casino marketing and loyalty programs to drive the casino and direct high-rate transient business mix up by several percentage points each, and this has helped offset the decrease in the convention mix that we experienced in 2020 and 2021. Now, as our convention mix returns we're generally displacing less profitable, but still important leisure business. This convention business comes at a higher average rate typically between $30 to $40 higher and brings with it higher margin catering spend.
Our third quarter regional net revenues grew 5%, while adjusted property EBITDAR declined 8%. During the quarter, our highest daily worth casino segment remained our best performing, with the greatest increase in both rated days and theoretical win. Our casino customers aged 65 and above grew again this quarter as compared to last year and 2019, but it still hasn't reached the visitation frequency pre-pandemic. Our local and cross-property efforts will continue to address these important segments to drive further growth.
Adjusted Property EBITDAR margins were 33%, a decrease of approximately 450 basis-points compared to the third quarter last year. This margin result is consistent with our prior commentary, and as the market stabilize we expect to maintain 400 basis-points to 600 basis-points of margin improvement versus 2019. We've increased our employee head count by the low dip double-digits. During 2021 we faced a difficult hiring environment and had a number of outlet closures. But we are now fully staffed, fully open, and have returned to the service levels for which we are known. In Macau, adjusted property EBITDAR was a loss of $70 million in the third quarter of 2022 due to property closures and COVID-19 related policies limiting visitation to the market.
On BetMGM, the growth and continued improvement we are seeing in this business is overwhelmingly positive. Our 50% share of the losses in the third quarter narrowed to $24 million, which is reported as a part of the unconsolidated affiliates line of our adjusted EBITDAR calculation. This brings our year-to-date loss to $186 million and we remain comfortable with our guidance for $225 million contribution for the year. Net revenues associated with BetMGM operations were $400 million this quarter, exhibiting and approximately 90% year-over-year growth from the third quarter last year led by the continued strength in iGaming and new markets as well as disciplined reinvestment within sports-betting by the management team. Through the first-nine months of the year, BetMGM's revenue associated with operations have surpassed $1 billion, which puts them well on track to achieve their target of over $1.3 billion this year. Looking forward, improved design and functionality of the BetMGM app, launch of a single wallet and omnichannel growth will be the tailwinds behind future growth of their business and its impact to MGM as we look to reach profitability during 2023.
Our third quarter corporate expense including share-based compensation was $117 million which included $9 million of transaction costs related mostly to LeoVegas. We do expect corporate expense to remain elevated in the fourth quarter due mostly to transaction costs related to the Mirage sale. We're strategically investing our corporate resources in growth areas including improvements to our IT infrastructure, enhanced digital offerings, and our IR development efforts in Japan and New York.
And finally, our capital allocation priorities are as follows: First, we'll maintain a strong balance sheet with adequate liquidity. Second, we'll invest where we have clear advantages, exercising prudence and measuring prospective returns for our shareholders. And finally, we'll return cash to our shareholders. These priorities are manifest in our major allocation decisions this year. We bolstered our liquidity through the closing of the VG transaction and the announced sales of the Mirage and Goldstrike. We acquired the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas which strengthened our portfolio. We're making strategic capital deployments into improving our existing product with room remodels across three of our major properties, and an announced refresh of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center to shore up our long term Group market share.
We returned cash to our shareholders through share repurchases. During the third quarter, we repurchased 10 million shares for $307 million. From the beginning of 2021 through yesterday, we've repurchased $115 million shares for $4.4 billion or 32% of our market cap. This activity brings our share count down to 384 million shares. Last quarter, I made the case for the attractive valuation of our shares, and I feel even more strongly now. With market-leading domestic operations driving record results, leases limited to 2% or 3% escalation for the next ten years, embedded cash flow growth in BetMGM and MGM China, and about $11 per share in cash, I think our stock trades at pretty attractive levels. We plan to continue to buy back stock through our authorized program, and moving forward we will also continue to invest our capital in growth projects such as New York and Japan as well as strategic M&A. With that, Bill, back to you.