Despite bad new in Macau, Steve Wynn announced he bought another 73,000 shares in Wynn Resorts, as it prepares to undertake a $.16 billion water park development.
Wynn this month announced plans to build a 38-acre water park, which would have a mile-long, white sand beach and host aquatic events. Wynn wants it done by 2018, and that means removing the resorts championship-caliber golf course, which Wynn once said was here to stay.
Tentatively called the Wynn Paradise Park,water park would include a 1,000-room hotel tower, and dining, recreational, and shopping opportunities, but no gaming. Visitors would pay a $25 to $30 fee to enter the water park and hang out all day, while hotel guests would have free admission.
Wynn likens the project to a Disney resort in Las Vegas, although on a much smaller scale, and estimates it would cost about $1.6 billion to build.
While the new plan calls for removing the current 72-hole golfing facility, a smaller 9-hole course is planned.
Meanwhile, Wynn said he bought more shares in Wynn, boosting his total in Wynn Resorts to more than 12 million shares valued at nearly $1.2 billion. The buy comes as analysts estimate a recent gaming downturn in Macau might be coming to an end.
Wynn, like Las Vegas Sands MGM Resorts International, has gaming operations in Macau, which is considered the world’s top gambling locale.
The former Portuguese colony is under the control of China and has endured a long-term recession, which analysts say is slowly coming to an end.
The sooner Macau can recover, the better off Wynn and other gaming companies will fare, but no quick improvements are likely. One analyst says things are only “less bad” in Macau, rather than improving significantly.
But with a $1.6 billion project in the works in Las Vegas, and the worst apparently over in Macau, Wynn is betting again on Wynn Resorts.
