Wynn Resorts’ New CEO Likes His Odds, Despite Macau Troubles

March 25, 2022 Macau Earnings & Filings

Wynn Resorts’s 2 Macau casinos – once the company’s main breadwinners – lost money in the final months of 2021.

The world’s largest gambling hub is itself in a state of upheaval. While the local government is renewing casino licenses, it will likely also demand new investment from companies like Wynn, even as China limits travel there by its own citizens.

All of that may seem like a lot to worry about for a company that got 70 per cent of its business from the Chinese enclave 3 years ago, but Craig Billings, Wynn’s new chief executive officer, is more enthused than intimidated by the challenges.

“I’m most excited and fascinated by Macau,” Billings said in his first interview since taking over in February. “I’m kind of a glutton for ambiguity and change.” Billings’s plan is to make the company founded by disgraced casino mogul Steve Wynn even more of a global player, expanding into new businesses and focusing on younger, affluent guests. That means new markets and new customers, including people who do not gamble.

The strategy builds on what Wynn has already been doing in Las Vegas and at its Boston resort, which opened in 2019. By adding features that appeal to younger revelers, Wynn has brought the average age of its Las Vegas guest down in recent years. One example is Delilah, an art deco-styled supper club that Wynn opened last year in Las Vegas.