On Monday, Steve Wynn was making nice with Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and vowing to glad-hand every civic leader in sight. He had a full set of renderings for how his Wynn Resorts makeover of the mortally wounded Foxwoods project would look. Fast-forward 72 hours and Wynn says, in effect, “Let’s call the whole thing off.”
Wynn Resorts issued a cryptic statement, leaving the field wide open for speculation as to the motive(s) for its sudden volte-face. Contrary to Steve Friess’ prediction, S&G is not “likely to write post-mortems that involve Wynn’s ignorance of the development history of the neighborhood where the casino was to stand.”
Au contraire, even without knowing what transpired during Wynn’s latest “show the flag” trip to Philly, I suspect that Friess’ diagnosis (“It’s an internecine political drama.”) is right on the money. Wynn Resorts was a wheat kernel ground between various millstones that included Nutter, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board — which just extended fines against the Foxwoods-led group — and bluenosed local (in)activists, who carped pointlessly from the sidelines. While the selection process in the Keystone State has been suspiciously tilted toward “george” Democratic Party donors like Don Barden and Neil Bluhm, if as vocal a Republican as Sheldon Adelson could get in, why not Wynn?
Not to be discounted, either, is the disclosure of numbers that showed Pennsylvania racinos outperforming stand-alone casinos. In other words, prospectively bad news for Wynn, good news for Penn National Gaming, Harrah’s Entertainment, Mohegan Sun and Cannery Casinos Resorts. Looking at figures like those, one had to wonder if even a $600 million expenditure (more, if Wynn amended his plans to include a hotel) was too much exposure, especially when slot revenue is taxed at 55%. With MGM Mirage‘s half of Borgata going for as little as $290 million, it’s a waiting game to see if Wynn’s reported weekend safari to Atlantic City bagged him any bargain purchases.
