The Wynn Las Vegas Wynn Resorts Ltd. has announced that they have had a substantial climb in thier earnings as their second quarter financials were made public today. This is despite the fact that they had been experiencing a decline in revenues due to an unusual drop in their winning percentage at table games, according to a Wynn spokesman.

The climb in revenue was driven by growth in the Macau market where earnings from the Wynn Casino are up by 67.5 percent, and from a one time tax credit. Stock shares paid a dividend of 2.42, this is up from 82 cents in the second quarter from last year.

Their net revenue from Macau rose from $352 million dollars to $530 million dollars and their earnings topped $155 million dollars. However the Wynn Las Vegas saw their net casino revenue drop from $160 million dollars to $120 million dollars and earnings fell from $155 million dollars to just $82 million dollars, a big difference.

This is partly due to their drop in winning percentage at table games. Their take has dropped from 24.2 percent to 20.4 percent. Wynn is hoping for huge new revenues to come in from their Encore Hotel and Casino which will be opening next to the Wynn Las Vegas in December.

"The flagging numbers at Wynn Las Vegas reflect not only the country's general economic hardship, but a rejection by the average gambler of the corporate gamesmanship in which the consumer has been basically dared to afford the elitist costs of the Strip casinos. Not enough people are willing to spend disproportionately, along with sacrificing value and service, to say they stayed at the Wynn anymore; even after an opening bump of interest, Encore is likely to exacerbate that effect, as are CityCentre and other projects coming on line at precisely the wrong time."

"My view would be to tread cautiously with this stock, even as large numbers of shares are purchased, analysts are rating the stock as neutral at best. Macau can only carry the rest of the empire for so long."


- 2008-07-24