Steve Wynn Complaining About Macau Was Sheer Folly

There are numerous irritating facets of our modern world, however beyond the dystopian nightmares with which we so blithely live, there is nothing on earth more irritating than a whining billionaire. Money might not be able to buy you happiness, but it should at least buy the rest of us who don’t have billions in the bank a bit of peace and quiet, and excuse us from listening to Steve Wynn complaining about anything at all, let alone Macau poker rooms.

Steve Wynn Complaining Again

• Macau table caps “counter-intuitive”
• Billions in investment at risk?
• Casino reps summoned to govt. meeting

Steve Wynn losing his cool was almost as amusing as it was irritating. Like watching someone whose patience has been worn away slowly over time and finally completely snaps, it was the corporate version of a trolling victim exploding in rage and epithets. You had to laugh. Steve Wynn complaining about the Macau regime’s interaction with his gambling concerns on the former Portuguese colony bringing to mind some Chinese bureaucrats somewhere punching the air in delight. Got ‘im.

“You can tell by the tone of my voice the extent of my frustration.” Said Steve Wynn complaining to analysts and doing a great impression of someone painting a bullseye on their forehead. Rule one Steve; Don’t feed the trolls, never let them know they’re getting to you. Didn’t you see Michael Keaton waiting to see David Suchet in “Live From Baghdad”? Patience is key when dealing with regimes that have reputations for being slightly cagey about changing anything at all.

New Cap Led To Steve Wynn Complaining

“The table cap is the single most counter-intuitive and irrational decision that was ever made.” Moaned Steve Wynn complaining about the new Macau gambling laws; “Here we are spending billions of dollars creating non-gaming facilities, and then arbitrarily someone says, ‘well you should only have this many tables.’ No jurisdiction ever has imposed that kind of logic on us.” Which leads one to wonder what Steve expected. An unlimited number of tables perhaps? Permission to expand ad infinitum perchance?

“We build tens of thousands of rooms and restaurants and attractions, but we say, ‘you’re not allowed to gamble because you can’t have the tables.’ Well that’s one of the reasons they come to Macau.” continued Steve Wynn complaining; “If you wanted to undermine and scuttle the viability of that industry, you’d put in table caps and you can tell I’m a tremendous critic of that decision because I don’t understand it in terms of anything, in my 45 years of experience, that explains it.”

“I have no idea how many tables we’re going to have.” Raged Steven Wynn complaining; “The notion that a person who spent $2.5 billion, I’m talking about Melco now, would not know how many tables they’re going to have three weeks before they open is so preposterous that it’s worthy of comment. That notion of finding out how many tables you’re going to get three weeks before you’re opening is outrageous and ridiculous. Ridiculous is the word for it. We’ve never operated a business this way.”

Macau Keeps Tight Hold On The Reins

The Macau authorities were not, as you might imagine, pleased with Steve Wynn complaining in such a plaintive manner and representatives from the casinos were “summoned” to a meeting with the Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong, amongst them the president of Wynn Macau Ltd, Gamal Aziz. Which sounds just a little bit too much like naughty school boys being called the head master’s study for a wigging gambling news of their latest exploits hasn’t reached his ears yet.

In a statement released after the meeting at which Steve Wynn complaining probably was at least hinted at said that Macau had “no plans to make any changes lightly” (unlike all those governments and authorities around the world that just do stuff for the sheer hell of it on a whim) and that they expected “clear understanding and full compliance” from the gaming industry within their jurisdiction, which makes it sound to me like Steve was playing fast and loose with the rules.

Macau’s gaming revenues kept going lower for the 16th straight month, sites like Bet365 negating the need to travel to gamble, so perhaps Steve Wynn complaining at long last is the sign that the business is getting fraught, but there’s still profits there and the chances are Steve’s nervousness has done more to damage share prices than the table cap was likely to in the first place. All in all the mahogany man that is Steven Wynn has shot himself in the foot and it might be quite a while before he regains the favorable eye of the Macau authorities.