Any lingering notion that Steve Wynn might be willing to give up his currently allocated Cotai site if a more attractive location comes up seem to have been dispelled by the boss himself.
Mr Wynn currently has a site well to the east of Cotai’s focal point, the Cotai Strip. The current site is big, but it isn’t necessarily pretty, overlooking Macao International Airport, though the latter is hardly London Heathrow when it comes to traffic so shouldn’t give Mr Wynn’s high rollers any sleepless nights (assuming they ever leave the gaming tables and get to bed).
There had been speculation Mr Wynn might bid for the Macao Studio City (MSC) site on the southwestern corner of the Cotai Strip. That scenario could only have happened if the Macau government put the land back on the market because the MSC consortium has not so far moved ahead with its development. The MSC site could potentially be coveted by a number of casino operators because it is in a prime position next door to the Lotus Bridge Gate to and from Hengqin Island in Zhuhai, mainland China. The crossing point was upgraded last year and is due for further expansion to handle up to more visitors. A total of 4.3 million people arrived via Macau’s two land border crossings in the first four months of this year—an increase of 13.9 percent year on year, though most are currently coming via Macau peninsula next door to Zhuhai city proper.
Wynn Resorts chairman Mr Wynn said last week he would probably be ready to break ground next year on his first Cotai property with a completion date in 2014. He says the property will stick to “who we are” by being high end in the midst of largely mass-market Cotai.
And when Mr Wynn spoke to Asian Gaming Intelligence after his press conference he seemed to rule out any chance of going for the MSC site.
“It seems to me if there was a good chance of switching [sites for a Cotai development] they [the government] might have said to me ‘Steve if you hold off something might happen’ [on plans for Cotai]. I didn’t get any of that [feedback],” Mr Wynn told us.
“My site’s nearly twice the size of Macao Studio City’s. I’m 51 [acres] I’m told theirs is 32. It [the MSC site] is big enough, but I would expect that they [the government] would have told me something like that.”
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