Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox has revealed the company ceased its efforts in Japan at least four months ago as it looks to refocus its energies on the company’s current key markets of Las Vegas and Macau.
Providing clarity on the recent closure of Wynn’s Yokohama office, which the company described earlier this week as an “evolution of operations to align with a post-pandemic market,“ Maddox told analysts on the company’s 2Q20 earnings call early Wednesday (Asia time) that now was not the right time to focus on development in Japan.
“Our efforts in Japan over the past decade have been more monitoring as opposed to being really active,” he explained.
“We have been monitoring that situation for years and years and years and back in March we decided that until there is more clarity on what the business is going to look like, what the world is going to look like and what the regulations really are over there we’re pretty much ceasing our efforts. We did that about four months ago.
“It doesn’t mean we’re not interested in the market, it just means that right now it’s not a focus for our company.”
Wynn told Inside Asian Gaming earlier this week that closure of the Yokohama office did not mean the company is withdrawing from Japan and that, “We continue to be interested in the Japan market and IR development there.”
Wynn had been one of several companies, including the world’s largest IR operators, known to be interested in developing an IR in Yokohama, having previously withdrawn from its original target of Osaka.