Inside Asian Gaming

september 2016 inside asian gaming 57 In Focus which attracted 7.5 million visitors last year to rank 13th in the global Theme Park Index, plus enough new attractions on the drawing board to make it China’s equivalent of Orlando. “Hengqin has the roller coaster,” Mr Wynn said. “But you don’t put the roller coast in the casino. They tried that in Las Vegas and it didn’t work.” MILLIONAIRES’ ROW Mr Wynn called Palace rooms “affordable” at US$300 per night – actually starting from US$250 on weeknights and US$350 on weekends – although that’s still well above Macau’s average rate of around US$200. The premium price is in keeping with Wynn’s reputation for a superior product. It fits Union Gaming analyst Grant Govertsen’s view of Wynn Palace anchoring a Millionaires’ Row of premium focused properties with City of Dreams, plus forthcoming MGM Cotai and Lisboa Palace, on the east side of Cotai. “Our strategy is tomake this hotel available to anybody, regardless of their income, propensity to gamble, or how much they want to spend on a bottle of wine,” Mr Wynn said. “Macau’s strength is the diversity of its menu.” The 74-year-old billionaire said his properties have always had “a major public entertainment component.” Wynn Palace has a Performance Lake, as at Wynn Macau, but the Cotai fusion of water, music and light has four times the shooters and 10 times the water. SkyCabs making an 11-minute circuit around the lake give an excellent view of the lake from a cruising altitude of 28 meters (92 feet) for most counterintuitive and irrational decision that was ever made.” The table cap has given Macau’s government a tangible way to align casinos with its policy goals of transforming Macau into a world class tourism and leisure destination, creating more non-gaming attractions and fostering greater integration with local small and medium enterprises. DAMN CASH REGISTER “We support this non-gaming diversification with the casino. That’s the irrevocable, undeniable, inexorable truth,” Mr Wynn said last year. “But understand that the reason these extraordinary non-gaming attractions exist is because the damn casino is the cash register.” Wynn applied for 400 new tables at Wynn Palace but Macau’s government granted just 150 with only 100 of those available immediately. That’s 100 less than Melco Crown’s Studio City received when it opened last October with 200 new tables plus another 50 granted at the start of this year. Galaxy Macau’s Phase 2 initially received 150 new tables when it opened in May last year, plus an additional 100 to follow. Both properties include arenas and outlets of local retailers and restaurants. Macau’s Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong, didn’t specifically address Wynn Palace but it appears the government doesn’t share Mr Wynn’s view of diversification. Mr Wynn dismissed this idea. He said authorities made the table allocation before inspecting the finished resort. Since then, “The government has seen the hotel and are suitably taking note of what it has,” he said. “We don’t have any difference of opinion.” A source close to Macau’s government tells Inside Asian Gaming that authorities remain unconvinced Wynn Palace significantly advances government goals. GOLDEN OLDIE The number of tables doesn’t matter, Mr Wynn insisted at Wynn Palace’s opening. He recounted that his Golden Nugget in Atlantic City had the fewest tables in the market yet more revenue than its four rivals combined upon opening in 1980. “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the fight in the dog,” he said. Tables are full during only two or three of the 21 shifts in a week, Mr Wynn said, adding that fewer tables can mean greater efficiency. “There is not a table capacity constraint in Macau,” Sanford Bernstein’s Vitaly Umansky and Clifford Kurz argue convincingly in their Wynn Palace analysis, highlighting that Macau managed nearly 40% more revenue on fewer tables in 2013. “I want you to get away fromnumbers,”Mr Wynn told reporters. “It’s the experience that will bring people to Wynn Palace, not the number of tables. Just two words matter in hospitality – guest experience.” Not table count, at least not this month. A private dining room at fine dining Cantonese restaurant Wing Lei Palace