UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549 FORM 10-K (Mark One) È ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 OR ‘ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 Commission file number: 1-12882 BOYD GAMING CORPORATION (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) Nevada 88-0242733 (State or other jurisdiction of (I.R.S. Employer incorporation or organization) Identification No.) 3883 Howard Hughes Parkway, Ninth Floor, Las Vegas, NV 89169 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code) (702) 792-7200 (Registrant’s telephone number, including area code) Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered Common Stock, par value of $0.01 per share BYD New York Stock Exchange Securities registered pursuant to section 12(g) of the Act: None Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes È No ‘ Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ‘ No È Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes È No ‘ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes È No ‘ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. Large accelerated filer È Accelerated filer ‘ Non-accelerated filer ‘ Smaller reporting company ‘ Emerging growth company ‘ If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Act. ‘ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ‘ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ‘ No È As of June 30, 2020, the aggregate market value of the voting common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant, based on the closing price on the New York Stock Exchange for such date, was approximately $1.7 billion. Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the registrant’s classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date. Class Outstanding as of February 22, 2021 Common stock, $0.01 par value 111,862,004 DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE Portions of the definitive Proxy Statement for the registrant’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A within 120 days after the registrant’s fiscal year end of December 31, 2020 are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Form 10-K. BOYD GAMING CORPORATION ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No. PART I ITEM 1. Business 1 ITEM 1A. Risk Factors 17 ITEM 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 27 ITEM 2. Properties 28 ITEM 3. Legal Proceedings 28 ITEM 4. Mine Safety Disclosures 28 PART II ITEM 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities 29 ITEM 6. Selected Financial Data 31 ITEM 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations 33 ITEM 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk 61 ITEM 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 62 ITEM 9. Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure 132 ITEM 9A. Controls and Procedures 132 ITEM 9B. Other Information 135 PART III ITEM 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 135 ITEM 11. Executive Compensation 136 ITEM 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters 136 ITEM 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence 136 ITEM 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services 136 PART IV ITEM 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules 137 ITEM 16. Form 10-K Summary 146 SIGNATURES 147 PART I ITEM 1. Business Overview Boyd Gaming Corporation (the “Company,” the “Registrant,” “Boyd Gaming,” “we” or “us”) is a multi- jurisdictional gaming company that has been in operation since 1975. Headquartered in Las Vegas, we operate 28 wholly owned gaming entertainment properties in Nevada, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania. We strive to create long-term shareholder value, to be among the leading companies in our industry and to provide opportunities for all while we support and enhance our communities. Our primary areas of focus are: (i) ensuring our existing operations are managed as efficiently as possible and remain positioned for growth; (ii) improving our capital structure and strengthening our balance sheet, including paying down debt, increasing free cash flow, improving operations and diversifying our asset base; and (iii) successfully pursuing our growth strategy, which is built on identifying development opportunities and acquiring assets that are a good strategic fit and provide an appropriate return to our shareholders. We operate with an efficient business model that we believe has enabled us to grow operating margins over the past several years, and we believe we have an opportunity to realize additional cost savings by further leveraging our size and scale. We strategically reinvest in our non-gaming amenities, including hotel rooms and restaurants to refresh our property offerings and better capitalize on customers’ evolving spending behaviors. We manage our cost and expense structure to adjust to current business volumes and to generate strong and stable cash flows. As a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic, all of our gaming facilities were closed in mid-March 2020 in compliance with orders issued by state officials as precautionary measures intended to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. As of February 22, 2021, 26 of our 28 gaming facilities are open and operating, subject to various health and safety measures, including occupancy limitations. Two of our properties in Las Vegas remain closed to the public due to the current levels of demand in the market and our cost containment efforts. Two of our properties in the Midwest & South segment that had re-opened in the summer were temporarily closed again by state officials, one in November and the second in December 2020. These properties subsequently re-opened in January 2021. We cannot predict whether we will be required to temporarily close some or all of our re-opened casinos in the future. Further, we cannot currently predict the ongoing impact of the pandemic on consumer demand and the negative effects on our workforce, suppliers, contractors and other partners. In responding to these circumstances, the safety and well-being of our team members and customers is our utmost priority. We have developed and implemented a broad range of safety protocols at our properties to ensure the health and safety of our team members and our customers. The closures of our properties had a material impact on our business, and the COVID-19 pandemic, the associated impacts on customer behavior and the requirements of health and safety protocols are expected to continue to have a material impact on our business. The severity and duration of such business impacts cannot currently be estimated and the ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations is unknown and will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, including the duration of the COVID-19 outbreak, new information that may emerge concerning the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, its impact on the economy and consumer behavior and demand, and any additional preventative and protective actions that governments, or the Company, may direct, which may result in additional business disruptions, reduced customer traffic and reduced operations. Any resulting financial impact cannot be reasonably estimated at this time but is anticipated to have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We have taken significant measures in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, including (i) reducing the offering of certain amenities (because such amenities must remain closed) and 1 otherwise limiting the availability of certain offerings, such as deactivating a substantial number of gaming devices to maintain social distancing and substantially limiting restaurant seating, as well as substantially limiting the number of customers permitted to be in a property at any time; (ii) adjusting property and corporate staffing levels in response to operational refinements and business volumes present as we re-opened our properties; and (iii) suspending our quarterly cash dividend and share repurchase programs.