Macau gambling news round-up: Wynn Macau; Sands China; Neptune Group

Macau

MacauWynn Resorts shares jumped 6% on Friday but for all the wrong reasons. The company mistakenly filed its regulatory report approving a lease for its Cotai project.

Two hours after Wynn Resorts had erroneously said its subsidiary Wynn Macau had received approval to build its new resort in Cotai, the company said in a new filing that the previous information had been “filed by mistake”.

Woops.

“The Cotai land concession contract has not been gazetted,” the company clarified.

A report by Macau Business states law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP said a clerk in its filing department had “inadvertently filed the unauthorized filing”.

Wells Fargo Securities analyst, Cameron McKnight, said in a note to investors that the mistake could “delay the [Cotai land concession] process further.”

Sterne, Agee & Leach analyst David Bain told Associated Press: “I can’t imagine that the Macau government is going to wake up in the morning and feel incredibly excited about this coming out.”

Neither can we.

 

As for Sands China, the company’s chief executive officer, Edward Tracy, has not made a mistake and said the second phase of its Cotai Central project is planned to open in October. He also reconfirmed in a report by Macau Business that Sands Cotai Central’s first phase will open next month, including the Conrad and Holiday Inn hotels and the casino.

The property’s casino will include approximately 140 VIP gaming tables, 200 mass market gaming tables while adding 200 mass market gaming tables by Q3 this year, Tracy said.

 

Macau Junket operator Neptune Group has announced a profit of MOP229.7 million ($28.7 million) for the six month period ending December 2011, with over 98% of profit coming from investments in the gaming sector.

However, the company’s board says revenue growth may slow down depending on the mainland’s economic performance as 2012 will be a challenging year for the company. A spokesman for Neptune said in a report by Macau Business: “Importantly we will continue to invest in our business, continuing to acquire more VIP room operators’ business in Macau and in other Asian countries.”