Wynn Palace is likely “to open in July or maybe the first week of August”, according to Steve Wynn, Chairman and Chief Executive of Macau-based casino operator Wynn Macau Ltd. and its parent company Wynn Resorts Ltd. The company’s Cotai project was originally slated to open on June 25, after the plan to launch it on March 25 was abandoned, but it now has a new predicted date of launching. “We’re thinking of August 8 for the opening, sort of lucky numbers,” said Steve Wynn on Wednesday in a presentation to investors in Las Vegas. “Our long term view of China is very positive. Cotai won’t be a pedestrian place so we had to make sure we had a break away facility, so unequivocally excellent that we will be first choice.” Wynn emphasised how the localisation of close stations from the future Light Railway Transit (LRT) would be a great advantage, and discussed the future focus on entertainment in Wynn Palace’s restaurants, including an animatronic King Kong grabbing a banana on a mock New York skyline. Lucrative business The US$4.1 billion Wynn Palace resort could earn as much as US$850 million before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) by 2017, the company said in the investors presentation. The company forecasts that in 2017, its overall gross gaming revenue would take around 15 per cent to 19 per cent of Macau market share. “Sixty per cent of our revenue comes from premium including slots in Macau. For all of Macau’s US$28 billion market, we get 166 per cent of the EBITDA share. I would argue it probably is the most profitable 1,000-room hotel on Earth,” said Matt Maddox, president of Wynn Resorts at the investor presentation. In the West In Las Vegas, Wynn Resorts Ltd. is building a lake resort behind its two casinos, creating a place for waterskiing and paddle-boarding just off the desert city’s famous Strip. The Las Vegas-based company will convert its Tom Fazio-designed Wynn Golf Club into the resort, which will feature a lake and a mile-long boardwalk, founder Steve Wynn said. The resort, which is tentatively called Paradise Park, will offer ice cream and a fireworks show every night. “Just like Disney,” said Wynn, who’s still working on the details and plans to seek approval from his company’s board in September. The proposed project is the first major construction Wynn has undertaken in his home city since Encore Las Vegas opened there in 2008. The new resort, which will feature 1,000 hotel rooms and 250,000 square feet of meeting space, could cost as much as US$1.6 billion, said Wynn, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer. “This is the most fun project in my 45 years,” Wynn told investors. “Somebody take the other side, tell me what’s wrong with this idea? We’ve all drunk the Kool-Aid.” In addition, the roughly US$2 billion Boston area resort could generate as much as US$400 million in EBITDA, according to a slide presentation that accompanied the event. Wynn rose 4.4 per cent to UW$93.52 in extended trading. The stock fell 1.5 per cent to US$89.55 at the close in New York and has gained 29 per cent this year. With Bloomberg
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