Digital Wager Wire highlights the most significant events affecting the domestic and international sports betting and gaming industries each week throughout the year.
Bally’s Sees Bigger Vegas Opportunities Beyond the Casino
Rhode Island-based Bally’s has plenty going on these days with simultaneous projects in the Bronx, Chicago, and Las Vegas, totaling a whopping $7 billion combined. The Las Vegas project is being constructed adjacent to the A’s gleaming new baseball stadium on the site of the old Tropicana. Yet, how Sin City’s newest resort will ultimately unfold is still unknown, according to Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim.
“Of all the projects that we have in our portfolio, Vegas is the one with, sort of, the widest standard deviation of outcomes. I mean, you can do really well in Vegas, and you can do really poorly, whereas, sort of, the regional properties like Chicago and New York, they’re much easier, much easier to predict what the outcomes will be,” Kim said during the ICE gaming industry conference in Barcelona held recently.
“Vegas has that sort of risk factor. Our response to that risk factor was Hey, we’re going to build this slowly. We are excited to build it. We aspire to be and continue to aspire to be a world-class gaming company, and I think it’s hard to be a world-class gaming company without Vegas. I’m not dying to do it [sell the rights], but again, never say never.”
Therefore, Bally’s Las Vegas may not even have a casino, although that seems highly unlikely, and if Kim gets an offer he can’t refuse, the city’s newest resort and casino may belong to a competitor. Financing three megaprojects at the same time could be straining the company’s coffers, which, if true, would make exiting Las Vegas more appealing.
Wynn’s UAE Casino Opening Delayed
Wynn Resorts will open the United Arab Emirates’ first casino on a man-made island. The Wynn Al-Marjan Island will be an architectural marvel, soaring 1100 feet into the sky at a cost of nearly $6 billion. However, supply chain delays have caused costs to rise, and the projected opening has been delayed to what is now estimated to be September 2027.
“As development of Wynn Al Marjan Island progresses, regional conflict-related disruptions initially impacted global supply chains and continue to impact the shipping insurance markets,” Wynn CEO Craig Billings said during the group’s Q2 earnings call.
This has required certain materials and equipment to be resourced, rerouted, or expedited to ensure the project’s construction timeline. In addition, we experienced certain other disruptions associated with the movement of staff and consultants and other non-recurring issues. These disruptions have impacted both the timing and cost of the project.
“On timing, we now expect the project to open its stores to the public in September 2027.”
The resort will reportedly have 1500 rooms and a range of high-end boutiques, fine dining options, state-of-the-art entertainment venues, and even its own marina.
Max Tappeiner, president of Wynn Al Marjan Island, a veteran of the hospitality industry, shared his vision for the company’s UAE property.
“We have a strong sense of culture that is the bedrock of everything that we do … and our culture is one of high performance.”
“Everything that we do is really guided by four values. One value is being service-driven, and for us, service isn’t just a thing – it is the main thing that drives everything we do. Another value is artistry: we approach everything that we do as an artist would in the pursuit of perfection.”
“We still arrive at excellence, which is another value of ours that we strive for every single day – we want to be recognized as one of the best operators in the world – and the last value that we have is progressive. That means that there are certain things that will never change about us, but there are certain things that will evolve.”
