STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

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 March 31, 2019 and 2018, the effect of the adoption of ASU No. 2016-09 was a decrease of tax expense by $253 thousand and $145 thousand, respectively, resulting in an increase of basic and diluted earnings per share by approximately a $0.01, 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
	March 31,
	2019		2018
Casino	$	46	$	38
Food and beverage		50		38
Hotel		21		10
Selling, general and administrative		798		480
Total stock-based compensation, before taxes		915		566
Tax benefit		(192)		(119)
Total stock-based compensation, net of tax	$	723	$	447