Tag: Wynn Resorts

Wynn Goes Big in UAE, Plans to Sell Its Online Betting Business

Posted on by Grant Mahon

There are some big news coming from Wynn Resorts. First, the Vegas-based gaming giant appointed a new CEO Craig Billings, the man whose one of first moves was to expand the business to the Arabian Peninsula. As confirmed by the company, Wynn Resorts is planning to construct a new integrated resort in United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The location is Al Marjan Island, an artificial island in the Ras Al Khaimah region, some 45 minutes away from Dubai International Airport. The cost of the development of the UAE integrated resort is counted in billions of dollars, as the complex is expected to feature a luxury 5-star hotel with 1,000+ rooms, as well as a large shopping mall, numerous restaurants and other venues.

There is one aspect of integrated resorts that the UAE project might miss – the gaming area. Even though the project includes a casino, it’s still not clear whether the UAE Government is going to allow it. The thing is that the official religion of the country, Islam, prohibits any form of gambling.

Wynn Resorts to Offload Its Online Betting Business?

Wynn Resorts might be forced to give up on the gaming aspect of its UAE project, but that might not be the end. As reported by the New York Times, the company is looking to sell its sports betting product.

Although it hasn’t been confirmed by the Wynn spokespersons, the company is reportedly willing to sell it at a big discount. Wynn’s mobile betting app is valued at as much as $3 billion but the company would accept a much lower price. The number that’s rumored is $500 million.

At this stage, everything is still pretty much a speculation, although there are some signs that Wynn might actually do it. The biggest of all is the fact that WynnBet still hasn’t launched in New York State. Even though the sportsbook was one of the nine operators that were given the license by the state officials, the app still hasn’t gone live.

The reason behind this might be that Wynn doesn’t see big profits from its NY betting app. Considering that the tax is set to 51% in New York, their estimates might be correct. On top of that, WynnBet’s main competitors – Caesars, FanDuel, and DraftKings are going full throttle in the Empire State.

These sportsbooks are giving away some pretty lucrative bonuses to New Yorkers, while they’re also being very aggressive with their advertising tactics. If WynnBet wanted to join the race, the company would need to invest tens or even hundreds of millions in attracting new customers.

According to a gambling analyst from Jefferies, David Katz, the advertising/promo cost of acquiring a single online sportsbook customer in New York is between $300 and $500.

Grant Mahon

Grant is the self-professed casino madman and reporter that brought this eclectic team of dedicated and talented writers together from around the world to proudly build an humble empire of authentic casino news.

Wynn Resorts Stocks Now Up for Sale at $118

Posted on by Grant Mahon

Last year was “annus horribilis” for practically everyone involved with the casino business. However, some have managed to rebound in the last couple of months of 2020. One of those companies is Wynn Resorts, which closed out the last year on a relatively high note – they reported a positive adjusted property EBITDA of about $39.4 million.

The casino operator now wants to cash in on the euphoria, for which, Wynn Resorts decided to put a portion of its stocks up for public sale.  About 6.32 million Wynn Resorts stocks have been made available for purchase, which is expected to raise as much as $5.5 million.

The money collected through the sale of Wynn Resorts stocks is going to be used for “general corporate purposes.”

Wynn Stocks Traded at ~$118 on Robinhood

The timing is great for Wynn to sell its stocks. At the same time, it also seems that it’s still a good time for investors to start buying them. At the moment of writing, the price of one Wynn Resorts stock on Robinhood.com is $118.

Wynn stocks at Robinhood
Screenshot: Robinhood

The lowest price of Wynn Resorts stocks was recorded in late January. On Friday, January 29, the price for one stock was $99.53. Since then, the price has been constantly going up.

Last week, we saw the price for one stock going above $116, while this week, it went over $117 before reaching the current price on early Saturday morning.

The reason why buying Wynn Resorts stocks at $118 seems like a good business move is that the price is still way below $136.82, which was its price before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last spring.

Wynn Stock Improvement Led by Macau Rebound

Things still aren’t in order in Las Vegas, with COVID-19 still causing troubles for the casino industry. Good days seem to be ahead as, from February 15, Nevada will ease its COVID-19 measures. As a result, casinos will be allowed to increase their capacity from 25 to 35%. Not a very big improvement but knowing that the vaccination is ongoing, the end of the crisis seems to be on the horizon.

What this means for Wynn Resorts is that their two properties on the Strip (Wynn Las Vegas and Encore) are expected to return to their full glory within a couple of months. Once that happens, millions of dollars will start pouring in the company piggy-bank, which is bound to make its stocks go up.

Until that happens, the main driving force behind Wynn Resorts will continue to be the operation in Macau. Wynn’s CEO Matt Maddox was full of praise for the company’s property in Macau, calling it “the sweet spot of our company.”

In addition, the company has big plans for its online sports betting brand WynnBET. According to Maddox, the internet operation saw its “revenues growing almost 50 percent over the last three months.” WynnBET was recently made an official sponsor of the Memphis Grizzlies in an effort to make the brand a household name among American sports fans.

Grant Mahon

Grant is the self-professed casino madman and reporter that brought this eclectic team of dedicated and talented writers together from around the world to proudly build an humble empire of authentic casino news.

Genting Denies Wynn Copyright Claims, Prepares for Court

Posted on by George Hansen
  • Genting Berhard denies wrongdoing, responding to Wynn Resorts’ claims that the company had copied its design for an upcoming integrated resort property in Las Vegas
  • The company has presented visual proof and pushes ahead with construction while preparing to meet Genting in court
  • Massachusetts wraps up probe against former CEO Steve Wynn

Embroiled in a dispute over copyrights, the impasse between Genting Berhard and Wynn Resorts remains unchanged. Genting Berhard has denied wrongdoing or attempting to copy the design of Wynn in the newly-constructed Resorts World Las Vegas LLC integrated resort.

Genting Berhard Says It Didn’t Copy Wynn Resorts’ Design

In December, Wynn Resorts lodged a lawsuit against Genting Berhard’s Resorts World Las Vegas LLC and its property under construction in Las Vegas. The $4-billion project developed by Genting’s subsidiary is due to arrive late in 2020, located in the vicinity of an already existing Wynn property.

Last week, Genting filed their official rebuttal of Wynn Resorts’ demands to halt construction and overhaul the exterior design of the property. In their filing dated December 21, 2018, Wynn Resorts said that the property had “a substantially similar architectural design and trade dress.”

Wynn Wins Temporary Extension on Report Confidentiality

On the other hand, Genting has been set against the position outlined by the plaintiff. According to the company, the Resorts World Las Vegas will not resemble its neighbor, with Genting laying down the following argument:

[Wynn’s position] is predicated on speculative extrapolation regarding the appearance of the Defendant’s unfinished resort and casino, which is still in an early stage of construction with nearly two years left to go before opening.

Genting’s answer said that the final property would look “dramatically different” than Wynn’s own property. Furthermore, Genting said that the design would in no way suggest to a customer that they are entering a Wynn-owned property.

Based on Genting’s position, so far there has been no substantial evidence that proves, within reason, that the company’s subsidiary was actively trying to copy the design of its main competitor. Genting will push ahead with its integrated resort construction plans while at the same time gearing up to face Wynn in court if need be.

Genting even included a “pictorial representation” of the completed Resorts World Las Vegas (RWLV) resort and casino in order to assuage fears that the company was intentionally copying the design of the plaintiff.

Genting’s position is well-presented, which means that they are fully-prepared to take action in court. Wynn Resorts has been embroiled in a sex scandal, investigated by Massachusetts that has now finally come to an end. Nevertheless, no public information is available yet, as the state’s investigators have agreed to honor a request from Steve Wynn, the former CEO of the company.

A public release of the report might give grounds to opponents of Mr. Wynn to pursue legal recourse against him, the position read.

George Hansen

Taking a liking to the occasional bout of slots, George used to moonlight as a roulette dealer, giving him a unique perspective into the casino world. From there he continued his journalist education and has been with us ever since a star-aligned graduation brought him and our team together.

Wynn Sues Genting Vegas for Copyright Infringement and More

Posted on by Sophia Rojas

In the iGaming industry, everyone copies from everyone. However, Wynn Resorts Ltd is prepared to challenge this in court, filing a lawsuit in Nevada and going after Genting Vegas.

Genting Vegas in Legal Waters with Wynn Resorts

Wynn Resorts Ltd. is going after Genting Vegas arguing against the latter’s latest design decision that have clearly borrowed from the layout of Wynn, the plaintiff has stated. Headquarter in Malaysia, Genting is known for its exquisite designing practices, but this is the first time that the company has faced copyright infringement lawsuit.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a daily newspaper, Wynn Resorts Ltd. is seeking “exemplary and punitive damages”, as Genting have knowingly and intentionally violated the copyright of Wynn Resorts. The company is now targeting Genting across four specific areas, including:

  • State trademark dilution
  • Copyright infringement
  • Federal trade dress infringement
  • Unfair competition

Understandably, the cost of such a lawsuit could easily go beyond anything reasonable, as the projects themselves are worth billions of dollars. In the case of Resorts World Las Vegas LLC (the Genting property), the facilities are worth $4 billion and the project comes with 3,000 rooms spread across 87 acres and with a scheduled opening in 2020.

In this case, the devil is in the detail, as Genting has copied elements from the design that are the trademark of Wynn captured by properties in multiple locations.

The architectural design embodied in defendant’s Resorts World Las Vegas hotel and casino is substantially similar to plaintiff’s registered copyrighted architectural work, and therefore defendant is violating plaintiff’s copyrights in addition to plaintiff’s registered and common law trade dress.

As per the lawsuit, Wynn is seeking not to shut down the project, but make sure that it uses legal recourse to ensure that any materials that are its own trademark will be stripped from Genting’s property. This could cause quite the financial damage to the company, as most of the materials have already been pre-purchased and paid for.

According to Mark Lemley, Stanford University director of science and technology program, architects are allowed to “copy” their designs and for a trademark claim to be successful, Wynn will have to prove that Genting was intentionally trying to mislead customers to think they are entering a different brand’s authority.

Former Steve Wynn partner Kazuo Okada has agreed to a $2.6 billion settlement to give the go-ahead to the sale of his share in the company.

Wynn has been actively and meanly protecting their own designs. Recently, though, the company was embroiled in what seemed a design theft, with one of Steve Wynn’s partners, Kazuo Okada, receiving payment worth $4.2 billion for the company reportedly using his author designs without a permission. Mr. Okada also agreed to a $2.6 billion most recently to allow the sale of his share in the company.

A lawsuit that makes a claim on the authenticity and originally of the design is also very difficult to fight in court and it’s one of the least common cases there. Architectural copyright is no joke and Wynn are right to protect the company’s distinct signature style.

However, assuming an overbearing approach can backfire in the long-term and cause more legal woe than the company originally intended to create. Besides, Wynn Resorts already have enough on their plate.

Sophia Rojas

Growing up around law firms, Sophia keeps our team of reporters atop any legislative developments to follow up with a welcomed dose of positive news as our house trivia nut!