Wednesday, May 6, 2020 | 5 p.m.
Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox said the company will probably reopen both its Strip resorts together at a limited capacity and predicted a “pent-up demand in the leisure segment.”
“Clearly, we won’t be opening large mass gathering places — nightclubs or convention areas or shows,” Maddox said today during a quarterly earnings call.
“But we will be opening most of our restaurants, and we’ll be working with our retail partners to try to have an experience that will be safe and fun,” he said.
Wynn Resorts announced the closure of Wynn Las Vegas and Encore in mid-March, just before Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered casinos statewide shuttered to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Casinos cannot reopen until at least May 15, although Maddox predicted it would be late this month at earliest before the state gives the green light.
Even then, the reopening will likely be gradual. MGM Resorts International, which operates 10 Strip resorts, has said it will initially probably open only a couple properties.
“In Las Vegas, we’re still working through what our opening plan is going to look like,” Maddox said. “Given all the occupancy limitations that we will self-impose, it could very well be both of the (Strip) assets open.”
Company officials said the resorts will need an occupancy rate of 50% to 60% to break even.
“We do anticipate that as we get close to an opening, weeks from now, there will be pent-up demand in the leisure segment,” Maddox said.
Wynn, which employs about 15,000 people in Las Vegas, will pay all its workers and provide benefits through at least the end of the month, regardless, Maddox said.
Craig Billings, Wynn’s chief financial officer, said the company had about $3.4 billion in cash available at the end of April and is burning through nearly $7.8 million a day.
He said that liquidity provides it with “significant runway to weather the impact of the pandemic.”
For the first quarter of this year, the three-month period that ended March 31, Wynn Resorts reported nearly $954 million in operating revenues, down more than 42% from the same quarter in 2019.
In Las Vegas, where Wynn’s two resorts have been closed since March 17, operating revenues of $324 million were down 19% compared to the first quarter of 2019.
