Wynn Palace Cotai sees "slow ramp-up" of mass-market gaming operations

According to Monday note from Japanese brokerage firm Nomura Securities Company Limited, the new Cotai Strip property was enduring “notably lighter” mass-market action than the nearby $2.5 billion Parisian Macao Casino Resort, which was opened by rival Sands China Limited on September 13.

“Our visit to Macau last Friday and [impressions] on several previous visits all point to a slow ramp-up at the Wynn Palace Macau’s mass gaming area,” read the analysis from Nomura Securities Company Limited.

“Wynn Resorts Limited’s Chief Financial Officer, Steve Cootey, also indicated in our meeting two weeks ago that the mass gaming at the Wynn Palace Macau has been ramping up slowly, similar to previous new openings. The mass gaming traffic at Wynn Palace Macau was also notably lighter compared to the newly opened Parisian Macao Casino Resort though it is worth noting that the table minimum [bet] at the Parisian Macao Casino Resort was also significantly lower.”

“

“

Wynn Resorts Limited has also announced that Gamal Abdelaziz had resigned as President of its Wynn Macau Limited subsidiary with immediate effect to be replaced by Ian Coughlan, the former boss of the nearby Wynn Macau Resort Casino

”

Also known in company communications as “Gamal Aziz”, the executive was hired by Steve Wynn, Chief Executive Officer for Las Vegas-based Wynn Resorts Limited, in January of 2013 to drive the development of the Wynn Palace Macau.

“His resignation within two months of the official opening of Wynn Palace Macau could very likely hint at a disappointing ramp-up of the Wynn Palace Macau,” read the note from Nomura Securities Company Limited.

Fellow brokerage Sanford C Bernstein Limited declared in its Monday note that the management reshuffle may indicate that “Wynn [Macau Limited’s] strategy of running the two Macau properties as separate entities is not working” while adding that it had a “positive view” of Coughlan.