Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming september 2016 54 Feature In Focus Steve Wynn’s luxurious US$4.2 billion Wynn Palace goes against the grain of Macau’s push for a mass market future, but could it also prove to be the mogul’s finest moment? S teve Wynn became a billionaire largely by defying conventional wisdom. People said Downtown Las Vegas was dead, yet he bought the Golden Nugget and made it a first class casino hotel. They said people wouldn’t pay top dollar for the Strip, yet he built Mirage, Treasure Island and Bellagio – transforming Las Vegas into a luxury destination. Now, in Cotai, Mr Wynn has made a US$4.2 billion bet that he understands what diversification means better than the government does. “What we’re doing is clarifying and hopefully educating everybody about the nature of diversity,” Mr Wynn said. The class began on 22 September when crowds streamed into Wynn Palace at the northeast corner of Cotai, Macau’s most expensive standalone integrated resort to date. Wynn Palace is “the most beautiful hotel in the world,” Mr Wynn proclaimed at a media briefing ahead of the opening. “It’s doubtful that we’ll open anything like it in our lifetime.” Big Wynn By Muhammad Cohen | Editor at large Muhammad Cohen also blogs for Forbes on gaming throughout Asia and wrote Hong Kong On Air , a novel set during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance and cheap lingerie. for Cotai