Home » VT News » It's Sorta Official: Bill's To Become Drai's (Renderings)
Caesars CEO Gary Loveman discussed the new project in a talk given as part of G2E convention this week. He discussed the renovation of Drai's as middle part of a capital re-investment in their Las Vegas properties starting with the Linq and continuing through renovations at The Quad (Imperial Palace. Wynn Palace was the first resort to go up east of the Cotai Strip, though it will be followed by MGM Cotai and the Lisboa Palace. Once the LRT (metro) starts running, hopefully some time in 2020. Value Conveniently situated in Cotai, the US$4.1 billion Wynn Palace is a 28-story hotel fusing the architectural grandeur of a palace and the natural splendor of flowers. With grand views, 1,706 exquisitely appointed rooms and suites and fabulous services, Wynn Palace.
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Two years and three months since we first ferreted out and published renderings, Caesars Entertainment has finally made their plans to transform Bill's Gamblin' Hall and Saloon into a boutique hotel with partner Victor Drai.
Caesars CEO Gary Loveman discussed the new project in a talk given as part of G2E convention this week. He discussed the renovation of Drai's as middle part of a capital re-investment in their Las Vegas properties starting with the Linq and continuing through renovations at The Quad (Imperial Palace), Harrah's, Bally's and Paris.
So what do they have planned for Drai's? Pretty much the same as we told you way back when, but with better renderings.
The exterior of the property will be thoroughly renovated and given a light, fresh, modern European design. The second floor - home of the neon canopies which are the home of tens of thousands of random bumper stickers and Bill's Doody - will be knocked through and opened up to the strip via large windows and balconies. Perhaps this will be second floor gaming, or restaurants with a view of the unwashed masses going up and down the escalators.
The casino is to hosed down, renovated and fumigated of the ever present barf smell. We expect the beer pong tables will move back to the new O'Shea's portion of The Quad.
The night club.
A new rooftop pool/dayclub, in the same rendering as previous.
The rooms... four poster bed draped in teal curtains, headboard and a matching button pleated chair. Four luxurious pillows, four throws. Leather bounddresser, armoire and night stand with hammer button bindings. Interesting. The desk feels remote... why not a love seat by the window? After seeing the Fab rooms at Flamingo, I'm skeptical about the herringbone parquet floor.
Generally, it looks good. I'm not so sure the decor choices excites a level of mystery or curiosity in me put this on the 'must stay' list, but I'll certainly visit.
#VIMFP: Drink Up, Event Passes and More
Related Posts:
- Video: Victor Drai Talks Drai's (20 May 2014)
- The Linq Resort Casino and Marquee Is Sorta Large (10 Jul 2013)
- Update: Las Vegas Business Press Prints Our Wynn/New Frontier April Fools Gag as 'Sorta' Fact (4 Apr 2007)
- Victor Drai On The Death of The DJ (18 Apr 2014)
- XOut: Victor Drai Out At Wynn (28 Aug 2010)
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| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| |
| Industry | Hospitality, Tourism, Gaming |
| Founded | 2002; 19 years ago[1] |
| Founders | Steve Wynn Kazuo Okada |
| Headquarters | Las Vegas Strip (Paradise), Nevada, U.S. |
| |
| Matthew Maddox(CEO) | |
| Products | Casinos, Entertainment, Gaming and Resorts |
| Revenue | US$6.61 billion (2019) |
| US$$878.3 million (2019) | |
| US$311.4 million (2019) | |
| Total assets | US$13.87 billion (2019) |
| Total equity | US$1.54 billion (2019) |
Number of employees | 30,200 (2019) |
| Website | wynnresorts.com |
| Footnotes / references [2] | |
Wynn Hotel Macau
Wynn Resorts, Limited is an American publicly traded corporation based in Paradise, Nevada that is a developer and operator of high end hotels and casinos. It was founded in 2002 by former Mirage Resorts Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn, and is now run by CEO Matthew Maddox. As of 2020, the company has developed six properties.[1] Most notably, its flagship Wynn Las Vegas and Encore Las Vegas have each earned Five-Star status on the 2020 Forbes Travel Guide (FTG) Star Rating list and are now the largest and second largest FTG Five-Star resorts in the world, respectively. Wynn Palace, originally earning FTG Five-Star status in 2018, is the third largest.
History[edit]
In 2000, Steve Wynn agreed to sell Mirage Resorts to MGM Grand, after having led Mirage and its predecessors since 1973. Wynn laid the foundation for his next venture that same year, buying the Desert Inn for $270 million.[3]
Wynn found an early partner in Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada of Universal Entertainment Corporation.[4] Wynn, together with Universal subsidiary Aruze USA, controlled almost half the stock, making it harder for outside investors to exert control, as they had done at Mirage in response to Wynn's prolific spending.[3][5]
Wynn hired investment banker Ronald Kramer as president and director in 2002 in order to help take the company public and oversee its expansion.[6]
Wynn Resorts made its initial public offering on NASDAQ on October 25, 2002. The company's first project, Wynn Las Vegas, opened on April 28, 2005.
Wynn Macau, the company's second project started construction on June 28, 2004. It opened September 5, 2006 and is now the largest-grossing casino in the region.
Encore, an extension to Wynn Las Vegas, broke ground on April 28, 2006, the first anniversary of the opening of Wynn Las Vegas. Encore at Wynn Macau, the company's second project on the Macau Peninsula, Macau, People's Republic of China, opened on April 21, 2010. A second resort in Macau, Wynn Palace on the Cotai Strip, opened August 22, 2016.
Wynn bought 52 acres (21 ha) of the Cotai Strip in Macau where he hoped to break ground in 2012 for Wynn Cotai for a 2013 or early 2014 opening.[when?]
The company considered opening a casino as part of the Entertainment City development in the Philippines, but decided against it because of corruption in the country's gaming industry.[5] Okada decided to proceed with the project alone, leading to the rupture of his partnership with Wynn. The dispute went public with reciprocal accusations of corrupt practices. Wynn and his allies accused Okada of bribing Philippines gaming regulators with over $110,000 in benefits, including free nights in a luxury suite at Wynn Las Vegas, while Okada claimed that Wynn Resorts' record $135 million donation to the University of Macau constituted a bribe.[4][7] Okada resigned as vice chairman in October 2011, and the following February, after a company investigation by the Freeh Group confirmed the charges against him, the board of directors forced Aruze USA to sell back its shares at a nearly 30% discount.[4] Aruze had been the company's largest shareholder, with a 19.7% stake.
On September 17, 2014, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission voted to approve Wynn Resorts’ proposed $1.6 billion casino to be located in Everett, Massachusetts on the Mystic River, just north of Boston. This project will be known as Encore Boston Harbor and was scheduled to open in 2019.[8]
On February 6, 2018, Steve Wynn resigned as CEO of the company amidst sexual allegations and was replaced by Matthew Maddox.[9] Amid sexual harassment lawsuits involving directors, Maddox announced the planned departure of two board members, Ray Irani and Alvin Shoemaker, on March 7, 2018. The departure of Irani and Shoemaker was to reassure investors that the corporate culture was changing.[10] In April 2018, the company nominated three women to the board of directors: Dee Dee Myers, Betsy Atkins, and Wendy Webb.[11]
Talks between Wynn and Crown Resorts of Australia for a $7.1 billion offer collapsed in April 2019; analysts saw the bid as an attempt to diversify away from Macau, where its license may expire in 2022.[12]
On May 28, 2019 Wynn paid a $ 35 million fine to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and the $500,000 fine placed on Matthew Maddox.[13]
With 22 FTG Five-Star hotels, spas and restaurants collectively across its global portfolio, Wynn Resorts holds the most FTG Five-Star awards of any independent hotel company in the world. Wynn Macau is the only resort worldwide with eight individual FTG Five-Star awards, for the fourth consecutive year in 2020. Wynn Resorts was named to FORTUNE Magazine's 2020 World's Most Admired Companies list in the hotel, casino and resort category, ranking first overall in the category of Quality of Products/Services among all international hotel companies.[14]
In 2019, Wynn Las Vegas became the only casino resort in Las Vegas to be certified as a 'Great Workplace' by Great Place To Work, an independent evaluator of corporate culture and employee fulfillment based on anonymous employee surveys.[15]
Economic performance[edit]
The Encore in Las Vegas opened shortly after the beginning of the Great Recession. Despite the additional casino at the Encore (which added 97 tables and 857 slot machines to the original 190 tables and 2000 slots), net casino revenues for the combined resort were initially lower. Similarly, in the first quarter of 2009, net revenues of the Macau operations declined. Following the global economic recovery, performance of the Wynn properties also recovered. Wynn remained the only gaming operator to not perform mass layoffs during the recession.[16] In 2017 CNBC reported that Wynn’s stock was up 44% for the year and that Wynn’s Macau operations were the leading US-based resorts there.[17] In order to be able to resume operations of the hotel and casino despite COVID-19, Matt Maddox, CEO of Wynn Resorts, suggested in 2020 that all employees and guests be checked by means of a COVID-19 test before entry. By proposing this measure, an attempt was made to bring back Las Vegas night life.[18]
Properties[edit]
Properties in the United States[edit]
Las Vegas Strip, Nevada[edit]
| Image | Logo | Property | Date Opened |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wynn Las Vegas | April 28, 2005; 15 years ago | ||
| Encore Las Vegas | December 22, 2008; 12 years ago |
Everett, Massachusetts[edit]
| Image | Logo | Property | Date Opened |
|---|---|---|---|
| Encore Boston Harbor | June 23, 2019; 20 months ago |
Properties in China[edit]
Cotai Strip, Macau[edit]
| Image | Logo | Property | Date Opened |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wynn Macau | September 6, 2006; 14 years ago | ||
| Encore at Wynn Macau | April 21, 2010; 10 years ago | ||
| Wynn Palace | August 22, 2016; 4 years ago |
Former properties[edit]
Las Vegas Strip, Nevada[edit]
| Image | Property | Date Opened | Date Closed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Desert Inn | April 24, 1950; 70 years ago | August 28, 2000; 20 years ago |
References[edit]
- ^ ab'Two of a kind'(paper), Fortune, p. 22, 29 April 2013
- ^'US SEC: 2019 Form 10-K Wynn Resorts, Limited'. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 28, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
- ^ abPalmeri, Christopher (26 April 2005). 'The revenge of Steve Wynn'. MSNBC. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
- ^ abcBradsher, Keith (2 March 2012). 'Wynn Resorts Partners Split, and Accusations Fly'. The New York Times. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ abSieroty, Chris (21 February 2012). 'Okada wants court to stop stock seizure; Wynn says game over'. Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^Stutz, Howard (18 March 2008). 'Wynn loses company president'. Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
- ^Louisiana Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System v. Wynn, p. 7 (9th Cir. July 18, 2016).Text
- ^http://www.wbur.org/2014/09/16/wynn-everett-casino-proposal-preferred
- ^Kirkham, Chris (2018-02-07). 'Steve Wynn to Step Down as Wynn Resorts CEO'. Wall Street Journal. ISSN0099-9660. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
- ^'New Wynn CEO says 2 board members leaving, Wynn brand strong'. Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2018-03-07. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
- ^'Wynn Resorts Adds Three Women to Board in Post-Scandal Shake-Up'. Bloomberg.com. 2018-04-18. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
- ^Ese Erheriene (May 7, 2019). 'Casino Boom in Asia Pressures Vegas Operators: Region's new venues aim to draw gamblers beyond Macau, U.S. giants' longtime hub'. Wall Street Journal. p. B5.
- ^Dumcius, Gintautas (May 28, 2019). 'Wynn Resorts, CEO Matt Maddox won't appeal Mass. fines and conditions'. Boston Business Journal. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
- ^https://fortune.com/worlds-most-admired-companies/2020/wynn-resorts/
- ^https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4096476.html
- ^Kiviat, Barbara (2009-04-27). 'When Companies Opt for Pay Cuts Instead of Layoffs'. Time. ISSN0040-781X. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
- ^'Steve Wynn doubles down on Macau with new $4B casino'. CNBC. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
- ^Isaac, John (2020-10-12). 'Wynn Resorts Might Require COVID-19 Tests for People Entering the Facilities'. Retrieved 2021-01-22.