During yesterday’s call with gaming analysts, Steve Wynn admitted to being “confused” by a Macao gaming market where revenues in October could fall 20%-23%. “The new regulations in smoking, the turmoil in Hong Kong lately, in the month of October, and of course, the policy of the central government in being very aggressive about what appeared to be misconduct and corruption in the government… has had an impact in Macao on October – we all noticed it … I don’t know if it is a squall or if we are in the rainy season, or how long it will last, but we are still very bullish on Macao.”
You know things are serious when Wynn Macau President Ian Caughlan says an impending smoking ban is the least of the casino’s concerns. Still, Wynn said, “Generally speaking, we were happy with the third quarter.”
Wynn’s ill fortune was compounded by the lowest hold percentage Wynn Macau has ever seen. There were one or two silver linings in the dark cloud. Wynn’s Macanese operations still posted a handsome profit 
and win from mass-market tables grew 36%. Net revenues at Wynn’s Las Vegas operations grew 9%, enabling Wynn Resorts to beat Wall Street‘s expectations for 3Q14. Profits for the company ($191 million) grew 5% and the company announced it was increasing dividends to $2.50/share.
Without going into specifics, Wynn hinted at a stimulating, new design for his Everett casino, saying, ““We’ve taken an approach to Boston that is dramatically different than any casino presentation that has been seen in our industry historically. I don’t think in my 40-odd years I’ve ever been as excited about a project as we are about Boston in my 40 years in gaming.” The design, he says, will be “different from any casino presentation” in his company’s history.
* Although Nevada gaming revenues are down 3% from 3Q13, Wall Street analysts remain sanguine. The year previous was particularly robust in the late summer. As 
Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli said, “The baccarat comparison was too much to overcome.” Ditto blackjack, which fell 27%, although players only wagered 15% less. At 693 grand, online poker was a minor revenue contributor, hitting an all-time low. On the other side of the coin, sports betting hit a September record, at $451 million.
Wells Fargo Securities analyst Cameron McKnight found additional gold nuggets in larger passenger counts at McCarran International Airport and higher RevPAR at the hotels. A modest increase in Strip slot coin-in was taken as an augury of good fortune by Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets analyst Steven Wieczynski, who wrote, “We view [it] as the most relevant indicator of the Strip’s overall health, as trends within the segment are predominantly driven by retail and casual mass-market players.”
So it’s not all good but it’s pretty good.
* Try to picture someone at a Las Vegas casino table game making long-distance bets 
via cell phone. Inconceivable as that is, “proxy betting” is common practice in Macao and the Philippines. This somewhat incredible practice is big business in Macao, where junket agents do it on behalf of VIP players who can’t or won’t come to the casinos. However, as part of its new, compliance-aggressive stance, Las Vegas Sands is literally taking the practice off the table and hang the consequences. Mind you, Sands is mainly focused on mass-market gambling, so the repercussions might not be so great as one would think.
