On the strength of beating revenue forecasts in Macau, Wynn Resorts Ltd’s third quarter earnings ended up being better than expected with net income rising to $182 million, or $1.79 per share, for the three months that ended on September 30. Compared to its numbers from the same time a year ago – $112 million in net income, or $1.11 per share – and you’ve got positive gains that bodes well for the company leading up to the last quarter of the year.
Excluding special items, the Vegas-based casino earned $1.84 per share, well about the $1.67 per share forecast analysts earmarked for the casino. Likewise, Wynn’s revenue hit $1.39 billion, a 7-percent increase from its year-on-year figures, and a little over the $1.36 billion forecast from industry analysts.
Macau turned out to be the biggest revenue booster for Wynn, accounting for a 10-percent increase in revenue, which resulted from increased gambling from mass-market gamblers in the Chinese territory.
Wynn chairman and CEO Steve Wynn was no less thrilled about the company’s performance, especially in Macau. “You know that we are primarily an Asian company,” he said during a conference call with analysts on Thursday. “Thank goodness and God bless that.”
While the outspoken Wynn was quick to laud his company’s performance in the third quarter of the year, talk about the goings-on in Massachusetts quickly turned the man’s mood into confused exasperation.
According to Wynn, Massachusetts regulators have been overzealous to find even the smallest of cracks in a company’s reputation, a tactic that has not only confounded and confused a lot of casino developers, including his own, but also could have caused Caesar Entertainment’s withdrawal from its joint bid with Suffolk Downs.
“These states are asking us to come and spend billions of dollars,” he said. “Now what if we were any other business, they would stand on their head and spit wooden nickels to get billions of dollars invested.”
But we find ourselves being treated, in many respects, as if they are doing us a favor,” he added.
It’s not easy for a man of his stature to be easily flabbergasted by anything that happens in the casino industry. But Massachusetts regulators appear to have accomplished it, and Wynn wasn’t making any bones about it, calling the whole mess “one of the most challenging, complex situations I’ve ever faced”.
This is a man who doesn’t mix his words so when he says something lie that, you know there’s a grain of truth to it.
