SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation:

Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc., was incorporated in 1993 and through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Golden Road Motor Inn, Inc. (“Golden Road”), owns and operates the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, a hotel/casino facility in Reno, Nevada (the “Atlantis”).  Monarch’s wholly owned subsidiaries, High Desert Sunshine, Inc. (“High Desert”) and Golden North, Inc. (“Golden North”), each own separate parcels of land located proximate to the Atlantis.  Monarch’s wholly owned subsidiary Monarch Growth Inc. (“Monarch Growth”), formed in 2011, acquired Riviera Black Hawk, Inc., owner of the Riviera Black Hawk Casino (collectively “Black Hawk”).  Monarch Growth’s acquisition of Riviera Black Hawk, Inc. was completed on April 26, 2012.  Monarch Growth also owns a parcel of land in Black Hawk, Colorado contiguous to the Riviera Black Hawk Casino.

Monarch’s wholly owned subsidiary Monarch Interactive, Inc. (“Monarch Interactive”) was formed on January 4, 2012 and received approval from the Nevada Gaming Commission on August 23, 2012 for a license as an operator of interactive gaming.  Before the license can be issued, a number of conditions must be met, within six months of the approval, and before operations can commence, the Company must enter into contracts with a licensed interactive gaming service provider with an approved system.  None of these conditions have occurred, and Monarch Interactive is not currently engaged in any operating activities.  In Nevada, legal interactive gaming is currently limited to intrastate poker.

Our operating assets are the Atlantis and the Riviera Black Hawk Casino.  Our business strategy is to maximize revenues, operating income and cash flow primarily through our casino, our food and beverage operations and at the Atlantis, our hotel operations.  Riviera Black Hawk does not have a hotel.  We focus on delivering exceptional service and value to our guests.  Our hands-on management style focuses on customer service and cost efficiencies.

Unless otherwise indicated, “Monarch,” “Company,” “we,” “our” and “us” refer to Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. and its subsidiaries.

The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Monarch and its subsidiaries.  Intercompany balances and transactions are eliminated.

Interim Financial Statements:

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X.  Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements.  In the opinion of management of the Company, all adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation are included.  Operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2012.

The balance sheet at December 31, 2011 has been derived from the audited financial statements at that date but does not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements.  For further information, refer to the consolidated financial statements and footnotes thereto included in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments:

Fair Value of Financial Instruments:

The estimated fair value of the Company’s financial instruments has been determined by the Company, using available market information and valuation methodologies.  However, considerable judgment is required to develop the estimates of fair value; thus, the estimates provided herein are not necessarily indicative of the amounts that the Company could realize in a current market exchange.

The carrying amounts of cash, receivables, accounts payable and accrued expenses approximate fair value because of the short-term nature of these instruments.

Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets

Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets:

The Company accounts for goodwill and other intangible assets in accordance with ASC Topic 350, Intangibles-Goodwill and Other (“ASC Topic 350”). The Company tests its goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment annually during the fourth quarter of each year, or whenever events or circumstances make it more likely than not that impairment may have occurred. Impairment testing for goodwill is performed at the reporting unit level, and each of the Company’s casino properties is considered to be a reporting unit. The Company’s annual goodwill impairment testing utilizes a two-step process. In the first step, the estimated fair value of each reporting unit is compared with its carrying amount, including goodwill. If the carrying value of the reporting unit exceeds its estimated fair value, then the goodwill of the reporting unit is considered to be impaired, and impairment is measured in the second step of the process.  In the second step, the Company estimates the implied fair value of the reporting unit’s goodwill by allocating the estimated fair value of the reporting unit to the assets and liabilities of the reporting unit, as if the reporting unit had been acquired in a business combination. If the carrying value of the reporting unit’s goodwill exceeds its implied fair value, an impairment loss is recognized in an amount equal to that excess. ASU No. 2011-08, Intangibles- Goodwill and Other (Topic 250): Testing Goodwill for Impairment (ASU 2011-08) gives companies the option to perform a qualitative assessment that may allow them to skip the annual two-step test as appropriate.

Goodwill consists of the excess of the acquisition cost over the fair value of the net assets acquired in business combinations. In April 2012, we recorded goodwill totaling $26.6 million related to the purchase of Riviera Black Hawk, Inc (see NOTES 2 and 9).

Business Combinations

Business Combinations:

The acquisition method of accounting for business combinations requires us to use significant estimates and assumptions, including fair value estimates, as of the business combination date and to refine those estimates as necessary during the measurement period (defined as the period, not to exceed one year, in which we may adjust the provisional amounts recognized for a business combination) in a manner that is generally similar to the previous purchase method of accounting.

Under the acquisition method of accounting, we recognize separately from goodwill the identifiable assets acquired, the liabilities assumed, and any noncontrolling interests in an acquiree, generally at the acquisition date fair value. We measure goodwill as of the acquisition date as the excess of consideration transferred, which we also measure at fair value, over the net of the acquisition date amounts of the identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed. Costs that we incur to complete the business combination such as investment banking, legal and other professional fees are not considered part of consideration and we charge them to acquisition expense as they are incurred.

Should the initial accounting for a business combination be incomplete by the end of a reporting period that falls within the measurement period, we report provisional amounts in our financial statements. During the measurement period, we adjust the provisional amounts recognized at the acquisition date to reflect new information obtained about facts and circumstances that existed as of the acquisition date that, if known, would have affected the measurement of the amounts recognized as of that date and we record those adjustments to our financial statements. We apply those measurement period adjustments that we determine to be significant retrospectively to comparative information in our financial statements, including adjustments to depreciation and amortization expense.

Under the acquisition method of accounting for business combinations, if we identify changes to acquired deferred tax asset valuation allowances or liabilities related to uncertain tax positions during the measurement period and they relate to new information obtained about facts and circumstances that existed as of the acquisition date, those changes are considered a measurement period adjustment and we record the offset to goodwill. We record all other changes to deferred tax asset valuation allowances and liabilities related to uncertain tax positions in current period income tax expense.

Finite-Lived Intangible Assets

Finite-Lived Intangible Assets:

The Company’s finite-lived intangible assets include assets related to its customer relationships and trade name for the Riviera Black Hawk Casino, which are amortized over their estimated useful lives using the straight-line method. The Company periodically evaluates the remaining useful lives of its finite-lived intangible assets to determine whether events and circumstances warrant a revision to the remaining period of amortization.

The customer relationship intangible asset represents the value associated with Riviera Black Hawk Casino’s rated casino guests. The initial fair value of the customer relationship intangible asset was estimated based on the projected net cash flows associated with these casino guests. The recoverability of the Company’s customer relationship intangible asset could be affected by, among other things, increased competition within the gaming industry, a downturn in the economy, declines in customer spending which would impact the expected future cash flows associated with the rated casino guests, declines in the number of visitations which could impact the expected attrition rate of the rated casino guests, and erosion of operating margins associated with rated casino guests. Should events or changes in circumstances cause the carrying value of the customer relationship intangible asset to exceed its estimated fair value, an impairment charge in the amount of the excess would be recognized.

Fair Value Measurement

Fair Value Measurement:

ASC 820 establishes a hierarchy that prioritizes fair value measurements based on the types of inputs used for various valuation techniques e.g. market value, income approach and cost approach.  The levels of the hierarchy are described below:

·Level 1:  Observable inputs such as quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

·Level 2:  Inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly; these include quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets and quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active.

·Level 3:  Unobservable inputs that reflect the reporting entity’s own assumptions.

The fair value measurements relating to the acquired assets of Riviera Black Hawk Casino was determined using inputs within Level 2 and Level 3 of ASC 820’s hierarchy.

Segment Reporting

Segment Reporting:

We have defined two reportable segments, (see NOTE 10), based on factors such as how we manage our operations and how our chief operating decision maker views results. We define the chief operating decision maker as our Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer and our Chief Financial Officer. Our chief operating decision maker organizes and manages our business primarily on the basis of Adjusted EBITDA (see NOTE 10).

We include expenses such as corporate selling, general and administrative expense, which is not allocated to specific segments, in unallocated corporate items.

The accounting policies of our reportable segments are the same as those described in the Summary of Significant Accounting Policies in NOTE 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in our 2011 Form 10-K filed on March 14, 2012 as well as described within this Form 10-Q.