Wynn calls Macau's bluff with new $4
billion resort
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[August 17, 2016]
By Farah Master
MACAU (Reuters) - U.S. casino tycoon Steve
Wynn's newest pleasure palace in Macau boasts massive dancing fountains
but the Chinese territory is anything but bubbly as it prepares to
welcome the $4 billion resort to its struggling glitter strip next week.
Macau's most expensive casino yet is due to open on Monday a month ahead
of a $3 billion gaming resort by U.S. billionaire Sheldon Adelson,
marking the beginning of the end of a boom in grandiose casino
construction that helped transform the former Portuguese colony into the
gambling capital of the world.
But the properties - featuring thousands of hotel rooms, an aerial
gondola and a miniature of the Eiffel Tower - are opening as Macau
gambling revenues languish at 5-year lows and a corruption crackdown
forces Chinese high-rollers to play in rival Asian destinations.
Wynn declined to say how long it would take to break even on the
investment as he addressed reporters at a pre-opening event in Macau on
Wednesday, but emphasized this would be a diversified resort with
gambling merely being one attraction.
"In every business there are good years and bad years. For our return on
investment I expect we will be fine," he said.
"What we are seeing now is a more normalized kind of market."
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Casino bosses like Wynn are betting the new resorts on the Cotai strip
will breathe life back into Macau, which generates five times more
gambling revenue than Las Vegas.
Analysts however warn that additional supply could increase competition
at a time when operators are already offering discounts to lure patrons.
"If they (Wynn) had known they definitely would not have spent $4
billion, they probably would have spent something like $1 billion,"
Nomura analyst Richard Huang said in Hong Kong.
Wynn Macau's newest property, Wynn Palace, would be profitable, Huang
said, but it would likely generate a disappointing return on investment.
With hindsight, it was clear that the operators, particularly Wynn,
miscalculated their expansion during the boom years, he added.
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![](../images/081716pics/news_t31.jpg)
A cable car network is seen outside Wynn Palace, U.S. casino tycoon
Steve Wynn's newest resort, before its opening next week in Macau,
China August 16, 2016. REUTERS/Bobby Yip
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KOONS AND KITSCH
Besides the usual constellation of luxury stores, the new resort is
festooned with $100-150 million worth of art including a $35 million
Jeff Koons "tulip" sculpture and a quartet of $15 million antique
Chinese vases.
Planned several years ago when soaring revenues seemed unstoppable,
the projects initially budgeted for earnings about four times bigger
than what is currently being generated.
Macau is the only place in China where gambling in casinos is legal
but demand from wealthy patrons has plummeted over the past two
years due to Beijing's crackdown on graft and China's slowing
economy. Regional rivals like the Philippines and Vietnam have
sought to capitalize on the situation by luring Chinese gamblers to
their own casino hubs.
New openings from Melco Crown and Galaxy Entertainment last year
have not significantly bolstered receipts, while operators are being
frustrated by strict official limits on gaming table allocations.
Wynn Macau's share price tumbled after it confirmed it had received
only a third of the gaming tables it had requested, as the
government tries to wean itself off gaming revenues and re-brand
Macau as a more mass-market destination.
Wynn Palace and Adelson's Parisian resort, due to open on Sept. 13,
will add close to 5,000 hotel rooms. MGM China,, SJM Holdings and
The 13 Holding are also set to open multibillion resorts in the next
two years.
(Reporting by Farah Master; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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