NOTE 3. STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

In accordance with ASU No. 2016-09, the Company records any excess tax benefits or deficiencies from its equity awards in its Consolidated Statements of Income in the reporting periods in which vesting occurs. As a result, the Company’s income tax expense and associated effective tax rate are impacted by fluctuations in stock price between the grant dates and vesting dates of equity awards.

For the three months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, the effect of the adoption of ASU No. 2016-09 was a decrease of tax expense by $167 thousand and $484 thousand, respectively, resulting in an increase of basic and diluted earnings per share by approximately $0.01 and $0.03, respectively. For the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, the effect of the adoption of ASU No. 2016-09 was a decrease of tax expense by $420 thousand and $629 thousand, respectively, resulting in an increase of basic and diluted earnings per share by approximately $0.03 for each of the periods.

The Company is estimating forfeitures, rather than accounting for forfeitures as they occur.

Reported stock-based compensation expense was classified as follows (in thousands):


	Three months ended				Six months ended
	June 30,				June 30,
	2019		2018		2019		2018
Casino	$	55	$	43	$	101	$	81
Food and beverage		48		36		98		74
Hotel		22		11		43		21
Selling, general and administrative		878		735		1,676		1,215
Total stock-based compensation, before taxes		1,003		825		1,918		1,391
Tax benefit		(211)		(173)		(403)		(292)
Total stock-based compensation, net of tax	$	792	$	652	$	1,515	$	1,099