Macau Government Dismisses Steve Wynn’s Comments

Macau Government Dismisses Steve Wynn’s Comments

macau casinosMacau, the biggest gambling hub in the world once used to be extremely accommodating and flexible to billion dollar casino establishments as the government was looking to encourage foreign investment into their casino industry.

Ever since Beijing launched an anti-corruption crackdown in 2014 targeting Macau’s casino industry, the authorities have tightened regulations on the casino industry which resulted in a loss of over $100 billion for the casino industry.

Macau’s authorities are not willing to slacken their anti-corruption industry and are no longer adopting policies that are friendly towards casino establishments. Steve Wynn, the billionaire and chairman of Wynn Resorts has remained rather restrained during the last 18 months and has not said anything negative about Macau’s casino industry even though his Wynn Macau casino has suffered significantly.

Wynn Resorts is currently in the process of opening out a new casino in Macau that is estimated to around $4.1 billion and will be open to the public in 2016. Steve Wynn finally broke his silence last week and stated that Macau’s new policies were not very clear as the authorities are yet to confirm how many gaming tables will be allowed at Wynn Resort’s new casino in Macau.

Steve Wynn was highly critical of the process being followed by Macau’s authorities and termed it as a mystical process that kept everyone in the dark. Wynn stated that the lack of information from Macau over the new casino has left his team in a tough spot as they do not know how many people they need to hire and train as the number of gaming tables will ultimately determine the strength of the new workforce.

Macau’s government recently responded to Wynn’s outburst and issued a very stern message stating that casinos that wish to operate in Macau must be willing to comply with the policies and regulations established by the government. The Macau government summoned key executives from Wynn Macau Ltd including president Gamal Aziz who met with Lionel Leong, the secretary for economy and finance to address Steve Wynn’s negative feedback.

After the meeting, the government released a statement on its website stating that it regretted recent opinions that were made about its gaming policies and labor plans. The government did not make any reference to Steve Wynn but stated that it will not make any changes to its policies because there is an outcry from the casino industry. The government also reiterated the fact that casino who wished to operate in Macau must be willing to fully comply with the rules and regulations rolled out by the government.

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