Gaming | Wynn’s Q2 earnings driven by ‘strong’ performance in April-May

Wynn Resorts’ Macau operations delivered USD67.6 million in EBITDA in the second quarter (Q2) on USD454.4 million of operating revenue.
In a conference call with analysts, the group’s chief financial officer, Craig Billings, acknowledged that the EBITDA was driven by encouraging gaming and non-gaming performance combined with solid cost controls, with a particularly strong showing in April and May.
Gross gaming revenue per day in the second quarter was approximately 31% of Q2 of 2019, led by the premium mass sector.
“Our Q2 results in Macau were positively impacted by higher-than-normal VIP table games hold that increased EBITDA by approximately USD10 million from a normalized level,” said Billings.
Operating revenues from Wynn Palace were USD270.4 million in Q2 of 2021, an increase of USD261.7 million from USD8.7 million over the same period last year; while operating revenues from Wynn Macau were USD84.0 million for Q2, an increase of USD172.1 million from USD11.9 million in the second quarter of last year.
Table games
VIP table games in Wynn Palace win as a percentage of turnover was 3.95%, higher than the property’s expected range of 2.7% to 3.0%, while table games win percentage in mass market operations was 23.1%, lower than the 32.5% experienced in Q2 of 2020.
However at Wynn Macau, VIP table games win as a percentage of turnover was 2.64%, lower than the property’s expected range of 2.7% to 3.0%. Table games win percentage in mass market operations was 19.2%, higher than the 8.3% experienced in Q2 last year.
Two steps forward,
one step back
Matt Maddox, CEO of Wynn Resorts, recalled that during the Q1 earnings call, the group discussed the strength of its local operations during Golden Week in May, when it achieved USD3 million in EBITDA per day.
“However, after that call, there was a small outbreak in Guangdong that was quickly stamped out within a couple of weeks, but that greatly suppressed the volumes in June,” said Maddox.
“We did start to see a slight comeback in the middle of July to where the results were getting close to the April and May results, which really indicates that there’s real pent-up demand in the region to go to Macau,” he added.
With the new outbreak in the SAR and with the increased travel restrictions, the group hopes that the vaccination rate continues to accelerate and that it will see a “more stabilized and normalized operating environment.”
For Maddox, there is confidence that the current small cluster will be under control within a couple of weeks.
Earlier this week, a subsidiary of Wynn Macau Limited received commitments for a new USD1.5 billion senior unsecured revolving credit facility to mature in 2025.