{"id":23171,"date":"2018-12-26T08:15:05","date_gmt":"2018-12-26T16:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=23171"},"modified":"2018-12-26T08:31:58","modified_gmt":"2018-12-26T16:31:58","slug":"wynn-at-risk-christmas-stocking-for-station-boyd-etc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wynn-at-risk-christmas-stocking-for-station-boyd-etc\/","title":{"rendered":"Wynn at risk; Christmas stocking for Station, Boyd, etc."},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Wynn<\/strong> might want to think twice about buying back into Wynn Resorts<\/strong>. Stock analyst Frank Fantini<\/strong> thinks the company’s Macao<\/strong> holdings might be made an example<\/a>\u00a0in the U.S.<\/strong>\/China<\/strong> trade war. Fantini believes Beijing<\/strong> could target “companies that are not strategically important, and that could be Macau casino \"\"operators. After all, they are raking in billions of dollars from Chinese citizens in businesses that depend on government licenses.” Plus, half of the gaming concessions in Macao are held by running-dog capitalists from the Great Satan. “Further incentive could come from the pressure by some to open Macau to more Chinese operators,” Fantini continues, adding that\u00a0Macanese Secretary for Economy &\u00a0Finance Lionel Leong<\/strong> suggested the government “should reconsider” rebidding the six concessions. And when a suggestion is made in China, it almost has the force of an order. As Muhammad Cohen<\/strong> puts it, “seating arrangements and cryptic quotes from second rank officials at third rank functions become critical policy rubrics.”<\/p>\n

“It is difficult to handicap without personal knowledge, but Wynn could be the most vulnerable given that its legendary founder is gone and there has been speculation that the company might be sold. If so, that could present the opportunity to find a Chinese buyer for the Macau properties, thus killing \"\"two birds with one stone from the Chinese government viewpoint,” Fantini writes. Why is Wynn at such peril, compared to the obstreperous Sheldon Adelson<\/strong>? “If the government cracks down on VIP play as it did several years ago, Wynn again is most vulnerable, as VIP is its biggest segment. Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> would be least affected as the mass market\u2014the rising and enormous Chinese middle class\u2014is its market”<\/p>\n

By contrast, MGM Resorts International<\/strong> is seen as having the least risk from a political standpoint: “There is no pugnaciousness about MGM. It keeps a low profile. It doesn\u2019t hurt that local political power Pansy Ho<\/strong> is the second largest shareholder after MGM in MGM China<\/strong>.” And with Macao only representing 15% of MGM’s highly diversified revenue stream, it would be hurt least by Chinese retaliation. That’s certainly food for thought<\/a> as concession renewal time draws nearer.<\/p>\n

* Economic indicators for the Nevada<\/strong> locals-casino industry continue to trend positively. Las Vegas<\/strong> added 1,900 jobs in November, followed by Reno<\/strong> with 1,200. All \"\"17 counties experienced declines in unemployment, with eight beating the national average. Las Vegas\u00a0is up 38,900 over the year (4%) and, more impressive still, Reno\u00a0 added 1,200 jobs over the month and 13,300 over the year (6%). Unemployment is at 4.5% in Vegas and 3% in Reno. Employment in both metro areas outpaces the Silver State as a whole. Up north, this has to be good news for Meruelo Group<\/strong> and makes us wonder if Station Casinos<\/strong> is failing to strike while the iron is hot by not developing its two Reno parcels. In the south, Station, Boyd Gaming<\/strong> and Golden Entertainment<\/strong> are all poised to capitalize on such positive numbers. We wish them a happy New Year … speaking of which, the Las Vegas Strip anticipates 318,000 New Year’s Eve revelers (an impressive gain<\/a> from last year’s 309,000) and 97% of hotel rooms have already been booked, putting the resort industry in the driver’s seat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steve Wynn might want to think twice about buying back into Wynn Resorts. Stock analyst Frank Fantini thinks the company’s Macao holdings might be made an example\u00a0in the U.S.\/China trade war. Fantini believes Beijing could target “companies that are not … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60,14,97,62,245,207,110,79,12,57,32,38,233],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23171"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23171"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23175,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23171\/revisions\/23175"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}