Expansion of the Chairman’s Club gaming area at Cotai casino resort Wynn Palace (pictured) in Macau “should be completed ahead of Chinese New Year [CNY],” says Craig Billings, chairman and chief executive of the parent firm Wynn Resorts Ltd. The next such festival falls on February 17 next calendar year.
He was speaking on Thursday on the call for the third-quarter earnings of the group, which controls the Macau unit Wynn Macau Ltd. The latter also runs the Wynn Macau property in downtown Macau.
Mr Billings also mentioned the “refresh” of the “Wynn Tower rooms at Wynn Macau to ensure we continue to take advantage of this ongoing demand”.
The revamp of these venues was first discussed on the group’s second-quarter call in August.
Mr Billings said in his latest comments: “Both projects are moving along very quickly. The Chairman’s Club expansion should be complete ahead of Chinese New Year, and we are already completing the initial floors of the Wynn Tower room renovation now.”
“While we expect some minor disruption into year-end from these projects, once complete, it will further elevate our offerings at both properties,” he added.
Julie Cameron-Doe, group chief financial officer, reiterated on the latest call that “with other ongoing capital expenditure projects, we continue to expect to spend US$200 million to US$250 million [in Macau] in total for 2025”.
During the call, Mr Billings was also asked about competition for customers among Macau’s six operators.
He stated: “As I’ve said on probably the last eight calls, it’s hand-to-hand combat [competition-wise] in Macau. That’s just the reality of the market.”
He added: “We haven’t seen a … material notable uptick in promotional activity. But we have a really clear view … down to the basis point of how much incremental GGR market share we need in order to justify and fade an incremental percentage point of reinvestment. So we’re monitoring that closely in real time.”
The CEO further noted: “In terms of the specific impact that you could see on margins … we view margin as an outcome of aggressively driving revenues, profitably reinvesting [in] customers and diligently managing costs.
“So, we don’t manage to a specific margin per se, but what we’re constantly doing is looking at our reinvestment levels relative to revenue, not market share.”
UAE progress
The Wynn Resorts’ CEO was also asked about the under-construction Wynn Al Marjan Island in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The project is currently scheduled to open in early 2027.
He noted the property “continues to progress rapidly”, adding that investment analysts were likely to be invited to visit the site “in less than a month”.
The executive added: “We’re pouring [concrete for] the final two floors now and are on track to top out the tower ahead of our analyst event in December.”
“The entire senior management team is already on board in the UAE. That includes key marketing leaders,” he added. “One -to-one marketing and player engagement has been going on for actually quite some time. Mass marketing and mass communication, you … roll out much closer to the actual opening.”
Wynn Resorts is developing Wynn Al Marjan Island in Ras Al Khaimah, one of the UAE’s emirates. The casino firm is a 40-percent equity investor. The other partners are Marjan LLC and RAK Hospitality Holding LLC.
A presentation issued along with Thursday’s third-quarter results for the group said the group’s remaining estimated equity contributions for the UAE project are “US$525 million to US$625 million”. The base case for its annual earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, amortisation, and rent, are US$345 million, as per the deck.
The complex has been touted as a tourism booster for Ras Al Khaimah.
Mr Billings additionally noted on the call: “We are also pleased to announce our first development on the Marjan land bank adjacent to Wynn Al Marjan, the Janu Al Marjan Island by Aman Group.”
According to the executive, the same joint venture that owns Wynn Al Marjan “will own the property and the Aman team will manage the asset”.
“Given the recent success of condo sales in the UAE in general, and Ras Al Khaimah in particular, we anticipate our portion of the equity cheque for the project will be quite small, about US$25 million to US$50 million,” he stated.
“Beyond the standalone merits of the transaction, we also expect Janu’s high-quality customers will be additive to Wynn Al Marjan Island,” Mr Billings said, adding that with the Marjan land bank, the partners had “significant additional long-term development opportunities in the UAE”.
Speaking about potential casino operator competition in the UAE, the CEO said: “We were factoring in two incremental competitors and a market of… US$3 billion to US$5 billion of GGR. We always tend to operate at a fair share premium.”
The CEO was additionally asked about whether it would be interested in an online gaming licence for the UAE.
The federal nation’s regulator, the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA), mentions on its website, that the defined “commercial gaming activities in the UAE include lottery, Internet gaming, sports wagering, and land-based gaming facilities”.
Mr Billings stated: “I think it’s really up to the Emirates and the GCGRA, the regulator there, how and when they enact incremental forms of gaming.”
