Operator News

US – Wynn Resorts hails ‘extraordinary’ second quarter in Las Vegas

By Phil - 9 August 2019

CEO Matt Maddox called Wynn Resorts’ second quarter revenue increases ‘extraordinary’ with Las Vegas revenue up 5.1 per cent and Macau up 5.3 per cent.

Overall revenue increased 3.3 per cent to $1.7bn for the quarter with casino revenue in Las Vegas increasing by 17.7 per cent. Las Vegas revenue grew to $464.1m whilst Macau generated $628.9m.

Mr. Maddox said of Wynn Las Vegas: “It was the first time in over five years where our RevPAR increased by more than 9.5 per cent, but what I found much more interesting was our focus on the casino, which for the last five to six years had largely been ignored. Our domestic table games business was up 12 per cent this quarter, when the overall Las Vegas Strip was down six per cent. Our slot revenues were up 12 per cent this quarter when the overall Las Vegas strip was only up seven per cent. Our baccarat revenues increased five times faster than the market. It’s quite an extraordinary result, which was a strategic change in focusing on the casino and driving additional visits and more play.”

Mr. Maddox was also pleased that the company’s reputation for quality hasn’t been tarnished by the turmoil the company went through with its former leader Steve Wynn. He highlighted that the company’s net promoters score, where guests are asked if the would recommend the company to friends and family, was the highest in the company’s history. “Over 40,000 people responded this year, which is similar as to year as past,” he explained. “This year, we outpaced the luxury hotel benchmark by over 15 per cent and have the highest score in 2019 in our company’s history. So through the cultural shift that’s occurred in Las Vegas, I think that that single fact coupled with the numbers says a lot of about this management team and what we’ve been able to achieve.”

In Macau, Wynn generated $343m of EBITDA in the quarter. Mr. Maddox commented: “Macau is currently a really core mass market driven market right now. Our core mass was up over 22 per cent compared to last year. That compares to core mass up 13 per cent in the first quarter. We’re continuing to see some choppiness in the premium market and in the VIP market. At Wynn Macau, we saw mass revenues grow over 10 per cent and that validates our strategy as we reposition Wynn Macau last year to turn it from a largely VIP junket house by reconfiguring the West Casino, remodelling the Encore Hotel Tower, building three new restaurants and an additional 8,000 square feet of retail, all of which will be completed by the end of this year, positioning Wynn Macau as a market share taker on the Peninsula for 2020.”

At Wynn Palace, mass revenues were up approximately six per cent, driven by core mass up in double-digits, offset by softness on the premium mass side.

“It’s clear that we need more rooms at Wynn Palace,” Mr. Maddox explained. “At our Investor Day, we laid out our program for the Crystal Pavilion, which includes 1,300 new rooms, 650 rooms in Phase I, plus the Crystal Pavilion itself, which is a non-gaming development that has a new theatre concept, a collaboration with a museum that’s going to have one of the largest collections of Chinese art on the planet, as well as 14 new food and beverage outlets. The Crystal Pavilion, coupled with the rooms, will make Wynn Palace, “the must see” destination in Macau.”

The plans for Encore Boston Harbor, which opened in June, are to make the property into the ‘top grossing casino in the Northeast.’