Ahead of next week’s planned opening of its new $4.2 billion Wynn Palace Cotai development, American casino operator Wynn Resorts Limited has announced that it has received approval to transfer up to 250 under-performing Wynn Macau gaming tables to the new property.
The Las Vegas-based operator made the revelation via a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday and the announcement means that the new Cotai casino resort will open on Monday offering up to 350 mass-market table games.
“We plan to transfer approximately 250 tables from Wynn Macau to Wynn Palace Cotai, bringing total table games at Wynn Palace Cotai to approximately 350 and total table games at Wynn Macau to approximately 270,” read the filing from Wynn Resorts Limited.
The gaming floor at Wynn Palace Cotai will be able to accommodate as many as 500 gaming tables and last week saw Leong Vai Tac, Economy And Finance Secretary for Macau, reveal that he had authorized the coming development to offer 100 new-to-market gaming tables alongside 50 more to be released in lots of 25 each on the first day of 2017 and in 2018. Leong declared that this decision had been based on the “consideration of several factors” including the number of non-gaming amenities at the coming property alongside the amount of collaboration with local small and medium-sized enterprises.
In a separate announcement, the former Portuguese enclave’s Gaming Inspection And Coordination Bureau granted Wynn Resorts Limited the right to run a maximum of 1,145 slots at its Wynn Palace Cotai.
“From a fundamentals perspective, we believe that the new 100 plus 25 plus 25 tables are sufficient to efficiently run the new property along with a transfer of underutilized or unused tables from Wynn Macau,” read a statement from analysts Vitaly Umansky and Clifford Kurz of brokerage firm Sanford C Bernstein Limited.
The news has prompted several investment analysts to begin trying to predict the implications for other large projects set to open soon in Macau including The Parisian from the Sands China Limited subsidiary of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which is scheduled to open it doors from September 13. The decision is also likely to affect the MGM Cotai property from MGM Resorts International subordinate MGM China Holdings Limited, which is due to commence operations during the second quarter of 2017.
“We think the next two big projects that will come online are in position to get a greater long-term total table grant than 150 tables,” read a report from analyst Grant Govertsen of Union Gaming Securities Asia Limited. “As it relates to The Parisian, no operator has historically focused more on non-gaming and family-style entertainment than Sands China Limited and we think The Parisian will be no different.
“As it relates to MGM Cotai, we don’t know what’s planned as far as the total package of non-gaming amenities and local small and medium-sized enterprise support is concerned but we do recognise that the company has a few quarters to get everything buttoned down before applying for a table grant when they open [MGM Cotai] in the second quarter of 2017,” reported GGRAsia and WGM.