Wynn Expresses Interest in New York Casino License as Macau Recovery Lags

Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN) is inward fact interested inward gap an structured resort hotel in New House of York City, confirming as much on its first-quarter earnings group discussion phone call tardily Tuesday.

In response to a question from UBS psychoanalyst Robin Farley on the call, unexampled Wynn CEO Craig Billings notes the troupe is interested inward any urban center that tin accommodate the scale the operator seeks in unexampled projects, but he was mum on further details.

Yes, we are interested inward any gateway city that is tributary to the scale leaf and calibre of development that Wynn Resorts does” said Billings. “So we are interested inward New York, and we are active there, but non inward a office yet to talk about anything inwards particular.”

The Las Vegas-based manipulator has long been rumored to live mulling an try to go into the largest US city, but yesterday’s comments past Billings represent the first overt check to that set up from the company.

What Wynn Could Encounter in New York

While it’s likely to be years before ground breaks on a New House of York casino-resort, the lay of the gaming expansion land inward the city is in reality square forward.

Currently, the deuce New York City-area casinos — Resorts World New House of York City inwards Queens and MGM’s Empire City Casino in Yonkers — are slots-only venues. The state’s 2023 budget likely paves the way of life for those venues to turn full-service casinos with tabular array games and retail sportsbooks, as fountainhead as providing for a thirdly permit for a yet-to-be-determined operator.

Previous speculation highlighted Bally’s (NYSE:BALY), Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) and Wynn as the likely competitors for the 3rd and final New York gambling casino permit. Last week, Bally’s was selected to acquire an integrated resort hotel in Chicago. It’s non elucidate if or how that cast will impact the company’s New York ambitions.

In recent months, rumors heated upwards nearly Sands entering the Big Apple with reports rising near possible talks 'tween the operator and New York Mets owner Steve Cohen regarding a gambling casino in the Citi Field area.

It’s non sort out to which gaming troupe the tertiary New House of York cassino permission testament be awarded, but that manipulator is likely to encounter considerable disputation pertaining to the location of the new venue. As things stand today, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Westchester County are unlikely to welcome a gaming property, leaving simply tierce of the quintuplet boroughs — the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island — as possible destinations.

For Wynn, Expansion Outside of Macau Essential

In the backwash of dismal first-quarter results that were caused past weakness inward Macau, Wynn is enduring a spate of analyst toll butt cuts today. Ongoing sluggishness inwards the Chinese territory, which typically accounts for the volume of Wynn’s earnings and revenue, is overshadowing telling showings at Wynn and Encore Las Vegas as good as Encore Boston Harbor.

“The uncollectible news is that Macau is ease a amount mess up due to China’s zero-case tally policy with no last inward sight. While the Macau ready and waiting(p) gamy continues to be painful, we preserve to have got faith that at one time the Chinese government activity eventually relaxes their harsh COVID policies, demand levels will bring back to normal very quickly,” said Stifel psychoanalyst Steven Wieczynski inwards a take note to clients.

He rates Wynn “buy” with a $112 damage target, pull down from $139.

While structured resort hotel projects accept years to have off the ground, such enlargement could live polar to Wynn’s long-term efforts to branch out a Macau-heavy revenue stream. To that end, the troupe said earlier this yr it’s planning a gaming locale on Al-Marjan Island inward the United Arab Emirates.

On a related note, HKS Architects said yesterday it’s been decreed designer for the Wynn UAE venture. The designing unwavering has extended casino-resort experience, having served as the architect of the Venetian Macau, Palazzo Las Vegas and Atlantis Paradise Island inwards the Bahamas.