GGRAsia – Smart table rollout at Wynn casinos in Macau done by CNY

Smart table rollout at Wynn casinos in Macau done by CNY

Nov 05, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Macau casino operator Wynn Macau Ltd expects to complete the full rollout of so-called ‘smart tables’ at its two Macau properties by next Chinese New Year, which falls on January 29, 2025.

The rollout timetable is according to Craig Billings, group chief executive of Wynn Resorts Ltd. His comments were made in a Monday conference call with investment analysts, following the group’s announcement of its third-quarter results.

Wynn Macau Ltd operates the Wynn Palace resort (pictured) on Cotai, and also runs the Wynn Macau resort on the city’s peninsula.

“We are in the midst of rolling out smart tables,” Mr Billings said. “We’ve got about a quarter of our tables covered and we expect to have full rollout by Chinese New Year 2025.”

The Wynn group executive highlighted there were operational benefits from the use of smart tables, namely with respect to game security and prevention of human error.

“And then there’s a bunch of benefits on the marketing side, primarily due to an abundance of very precise bet-by-bet data,” Mr Billings said.

“We have a super clear view of how we intend to utilise that data and bring some innovative marketing forward to our customers. The real benefits of that require you to be at substantially-complete rollout because you need a complete view of the customer.”

Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau had talks in March with the Macau operators on the utility of ‘smart’ technology in the local market. Several operators have since flagged plans to use radio frequency identification (RFID) technology at casino gaming tables for monitoring the monetary integrity of games.

‘Intense’ competition

In his comments, Mr Billings noted that the competitive environment in Macau’s casino industry remained “clearly intense”. He stated that Wynn Macau Ltd was focused on “maximising EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation] rather than purely market share.”

“We saw particular strength during the [October] Golden Week holiday period, where mass table drop increased by almost 30 percent compared to last year’s Golden Week.”

Asked about the stimulus package recently announced by China’s central government to boost the country’s economic development, Mr Billings said it was “a bit early at this point to say if anything is cascading through Macau.” But drawing reference to the effect on the Macau casino market of similar packages introduced by the Chinese authorities previously, namely in 2016, he admitted that these schemes could have “pretty substantial positive impact” on both visitor volumes to Macau and gross gaming revenue.

The executive noted that the Wynn group was “currently revitalising and expanding the Chairman’s Club” at the Wynn Macau casino, which according to Mr Billings, is the “most exclusive gaming area” at the proprety.

The company was “in the design phase for a similar expansion and renovation of the Chairman’s Club at Wynn Palace,” he added.

The executive said that “four recently renovated and reimagined” food and beverage venues at been launched at Wynn Palace, with a “destination food hall” coming online in “mid-2025”.

The Wynn group management also made reference to its capital expenditure commitments under its existing 10-year licence, which include development of an event centre and introduction of a resident show.

“We continue to advance design work on our event center and production show for Wynn Palace,” said Mr Billings. “I was in Shanghai two weeks ago reviewing initial rehearsals for our production show and I was very pleased with the early work on the production.”

Julie Cameron-Doe, chief financial officer of Wynn Resorts, said during the conference call that the group now expected capital expenditure related to its concession commitments in Macau “to range between US$350 million to US$425 million in total between 2024 and the end of 2025.”