Wynn Resorts Chief Operating Officer Gamal Aziz has been named president of Wynn Macau in a move that signals the company’s increasing focus on its US billion expansion onto the booming Cotai resort district.
Aziz, who replaces Steve Wynn in the position, will remain COO of the parent company, while Wynn, as Wynn Resorts’ chairman and chief executive will continue as chairman and CEO of the Hong Kong-listed Macau subsidiary.
“I expect Aziz is going to dedicate more time and resources to oversee Wynn’s existing operations and upcoming projects in Macau upon the appointment,” Philip Tulk, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Standard Chartered told Bloomberg.
Wynn Resorts holds one of the three primary gaming concessions in the Chinese territory, the largest casino market in terms of revenue in the world, reaching US$45 billion last year, and the source of 70 percent of the parent company’s revenues. Not surprisingly, Wynn has described Wynn Palace, which started construction on Cotai last year, as the most important project in the company’s history. Opening is slated for 2016. Plans call for a 500,000-square-meter resort with 1,700 luxury hotel rooms, massive floral sculptures, a man-made lake and aerial tram rides in air-conditioned gondolas designed as smoke-breathing dragons.
Through Wynn Macau the company operates two five-star hotels on the Macau peninsula that include 1,008 rooms and suites, about 275,000 square feet of casino space, an array of restaurants, spas and other attractions and approximately 57,000 square feet of retail shopping.
Aziz, 57, rejoined his former boss last January after several years at Las Vegas Strip rival MGM Resorts International, where he served in a number of top roles, the last as president and CEO of MGM Hospitality, the division responsible for developing and operating luxury hotels around the world under the Bellagio, MGM Grand and Skylofts brands. Prior to joining MGM he was senior vice president at Bellagio, the Strip flagship of Wynn’s Mirage Resorts, which was bought out in 2000 by MGM, then known as MGM Grand Inc.
