GGRAsia – Wynn Oct investor day maybe good omen on UAE: JP Morgan

Wynn Oct investor day maybe good omen on UAE: JP Morgan

Sep 04, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World

Casino promoter Wynn Resorts Ltd is to host an investor day in early October that the investment community hopes will shed light on the progress of the firm’s under-construction United Arab Emirates (UAE) scheme. That is according to a Wednesday note from banking group JP Morgan.

“The fact that management is willing to host a three-hour investor meeting could likely imply that regulations and licence issuance are imminent,” wrote analysts Joseph Greff, Samuel Nielsen, and Ryan Lambert.

They were referring to the Wynn Al Marjan Island project (construction pictured in a 2024 file photo) in which Wynn Resorts is an equity partner. The complex is being developed in Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE.

Wynn Resorts chairman and chief executive Craig Billings has previously emphasised the group wouldn’t have committed to the project without a strong belief that the UAE would deliver in terms of casino regulation and licensing.

JP Morgan stated in its Wednesday memo, referring to the impending investor day in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the United States: “We don’t look at this as a derisking event, but rather one in which equity investors can start to ascribe the [currently] discounted equity value related to the project.”

Wynn Resorts currently runs casino complexes in Las Vegas and Massachusetts in the U.S., as well as Wynn Macau and Wynn Palace in the Macau market via Wynn Macau Ltd.

Its fresh foray in a brand-new Middle East market, Wynn Al Marjan Island has been described as a US$3.9-billion venture involving local partners, in which Wynn Resorts is a 40-percent equity investor.

The casino company had made “meaningful progress on the debt financing for the project with significant interest from a diverse group of banks both locally in the region as well as internationally,” stated Julie Cameron-Doe, Wynn Resorts’ chief financial officer, speaking on the group’s second-quarter earnings call.

CBRE Capital Advisors Inc said recently the venture could generate US$1.4 billion annually in gross gaming revenue (GGR).

During Wynn Resorts’ second-quarter earnings call, Mr Billings said he was “delighted” with recent news that the official website for the UAE’s gambling regulator – the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA) – had gone live to the public.

He added on the call: “I assume that they will be moving forward… to the next step in our licensure. I don’t have a specific timeline for you, but you can see all the momentum that’s happening there.”

Jim Murren, a former chairman and chief executive of casino group MGM Resorts International, is chairman of the UAE regulator.