Wynn Resorts Q2 2023 Earnings Report

Wynn Resorts EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.91
• Consensus EPS: $0.51
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.40
• One Year Ago EPS: -$0.82

Wynn Resorts Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $1.60 billion
• Expected Revenue: $1.54 billion
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$57.94 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: +75.60%

Wynn Resorts Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q2 2023
• Date: 8/9/2023
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Wednesday, August 9, 2023
• Conference Call Time: 4:30PM ET

Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN), Ltd. is a global luxury hospitality and entertainment company that develops and operates integrated resorts. Its properties combine casino gaming with hotel accommodations, fine dining, retail shopping, nightlife, entertainment, spas and meeting facilities.

The company operates Wynn Las Vegas and Encore Las Vegas in Nevada, Encore Boston Harbor in Massachusetts, and Wynn Macau and Encore Macau in Macau. These properties serve leisure and business travelers, gaming customers and convention guests across the United States and Asia.

Founded in 2002 by casino executive Steve Wynn, Wynn Resorts has expanded its portfolio through destination resorts focused on premium service and design. The company is also developing Wynn Al Marjan Island in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, in partnership with local entities. Craig Billings serves as chief executive officer.

Wynn Resorts Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• The company is running at an annualized property EBITDA of $2.2 billion, surpassing its previous peak of $2.0 billion in 2018 and reflecting a more diversified, higher-margin global portfolio.
• Wynn Las Vegas generated $224.1 million of adjusted property EBITDA in Q2, with hold-normalized EBITDA up 3% year-over-year, record hotel revenue (+6%) and broad-based strength across gaming, F&B and retail.
• Encore Boston Harbor delivered a Q2 record EBITDAR of $69.1 million, driven by record casino GGR, growing slot handle and robust non-gaming performance in hotel, dining and entertainment.
• Macau operations posted Q2 adjusted property EBITDA of $246.2 million on a 32% margin, with operating expenses per day down 29% versus Q2 2019 despite some mass-hold volatility, underscoring strong cost discipline.
• The balance sheet remains healthy with $4.7 billion of cash and revolver capacity, the resumption of a $0.25/share quarterly dividend, and construction underway on the Wynn Al Marjan Island integrated resort in the UAE (40% equity stake).

Presentation

[Operator]

Welcome to the Wynn Resorts Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. All participants are in a listen-only mode until the question and answer session of today's conference. To ask a question, press star one on your touchtone phone, record your name, and I will introduce you. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up question. This call is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. I will now turn the line over to Julie Cameron-Doe, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

[Julie Cameron-Doe, CFO at Wynn Resorts]

Thank you, Operator, and good afternoon, everyone. On the call with me today are Craig Billings, Brian Gullbrants, and Steve Weitman in Las Vegas. Also on the line are Linda Chen, Frederic Luvisutto, and Jenny Holaday. I want to remind you that we may make forward-looking statements under Safe Harbor federal securities laws, and those statements may or may not come true. I will now turn the call over to Craig Billings.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Thanks Julie Afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. Well, what a quarter! Who would have thought just six months ago that we would be run rating $2.2 billion of property EBITDA? To put that in context, peak annual property EBITDA for the company was $2 billion in 2018. Yet here we are today. We have a more diversified business with the addition of Encore Boston Harbor. We have a business in Macau that is running structurally higher margins into a resurging market, a business in Las Vegas that is more relevant than ever and is producing nearly double its 2018 EBITDA on much higher margins. We have a very substantial growth opportunity in the UAE, the most exciting new gaming market in decades. I see tremendous value in our business, and I know our brightest days are ahead of us.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Our path is the clearest it has been in years, and our team is committed and energized. Turning to the quarter and starting in Vegas, Wynn Las Vegas delivered $224 million of Adjusted Property EBITDAR. On a hold-normalized basis, our EBITDA was up 3% on a very difficult year-over-year comp. We saw strength all over the place: the casino, the hotel, the restaurants, retail, you name it, all supported by a consumer that seems more than willing to continue spending on unique luxury experiences. Now, we obviously have a very particular customer type, skewing heavily to luxury, and we continue to closely monitor whether or not interest rates and inflation begin to impact that consumer. So far, so good.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

In fact, Drop, Handle, and RevPAR are all up year-over-year in July, and that's obviously before we get into the latter portion of the year, which has a number of tailwinds from citywide programming. Turning to Boston, like Vegas, Encore had a strong quarter, generating $69 million of EBITDA, an all-time property record. We generated record GGR in the casino, led by strong growth in Slot Handle and the addition of retail sports betting earlier this year. On the non-gaming side, we delivered strong hotel revenue, driven by both ADR and occupancy. On the development front in Boston, we're advancing our East of Broadway expansion project now. Turning to Macau, we generated $246 million of EBITDA in the quarter, which was 72% of pre-COVID levels.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Hold was a bit of a mixed bag in the quarter as we held high in our VIP business, but that was more than offset by low hold on the mass table side. We saw strength across the property, with several components of the business above 2019 levels. In the casino, mass table drop increased 4% versus Q2 2019, despite the fact that portions of Wynn Macau's casino were closed for renovation during the quarter. The quality of our product and service, the relaunch of our loyalty program, our very robust non-gaming events calendar all helped drive 14.2% market share in the quarter, consistent with our share as we exited 2019. On the non-gaming side, our retail business continues to be incredibly strong, with tenant retail sales increasing 47% relative to 2Q 2019.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Looking forward, as you have seen, market-wide GGR momentum in Macau has been impressive, building through the second quarter. The strength has continued into Q3, with mass drop per day in July, exceeding what we experienced in each month in Q2 and reaching 120% of daily mass drop in 2019. In July, we also continued to experience robust hotel occupancy and very healthy tenant retail sales. On the development front, we are deep into design and planning for our Concession-Related CapEx commitments, which we believe will help support Macau's long-term diversification goals and be additive to our business over the coming years. Construction is now underway on Wynn Al Marjan Island, our planned Integrated Resort in the UAE, with our secant pile walls and soil compaction complete and over 40% of the required hotel piles in the ground.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

As I said earlier, this is the most exciting new market opening in decades, we will bring our A game to this development. Our 40% equity ownership and management license fees will drive a very healthy ROI for Wynn Resorts shareholders. With that, I will now turn it back to Julie to run through some additional details on the quarter. Julie?

[Julie Cameron-Doe, CFO at Wynn Resorts]

Thank you, Craig at Wynn Las Vegas, we generated $224.1 million in Adjusted Property EBITDAR on $578.1 million of operating revenue during the quarter, delivering an EBITDA margin of 38.8%. Slightly lower-than-normal-hold, negatively impacted EBITDA by around $2 million in Q2. Hold-normalized Adjusted Property EBITDA was up 3% year-over-year. Our hotel revenue increased 6% year-over-year to $177.8 million, a new second quarter record on the back of an increase of 24,000 occupied room nights. Due to rooms that were out of service for renovations in Q2 2022, ADR, occupancy, and RevPAR were all up slightly compared to Q2 2022, despite the increase in available room nights, highlighting the appeal of our newly renovated room product.

[Julie Cameron-Doe, CFO at Wynn Resorts]

Our other non-gaming businesses saw broad-based strength across food and beverage, entertainment, and retail. In the casino, our GGR increased around 2% year-over-year, driven by a 14.8% year-over-year increase in Slot Handle and table drop that was roughly flat. Turning to Boston, we generated Adjusted Property EBITDAR of $69.1 million, an all-time property record. EBITDA margin was 31.1%, up 80 basis points year-over-year. We saw broad-based strength across casino and non-gaming during the quarter. In the casino, we generated $193 million of GGR, a property record, with strength in both tables and slots. Our non-gaming revenue grew 3.8% year-over-year to $55.1 million, with particular strength in hotel and food and beverage.

[Julie Cameron-Doe, CFO at Wynn Resorts]

We've stayed very disciplined on the cost side, with OpEx, excluding gaming tax per day, of approximately $1.15 million in Q2 2023, up 3.6% year-over-year on increased business volumes and down 1% sequentially. As you may have seen in the press, we were pleased to recently sign new union agreements that provide our employees with competitive wages, benefits, and a best-in-class working environment that reflects our Wynn service standards. We expect the incremental OpEx from the new agreements to be partially offset by cost efficiencies we have identified in areas of the business that do not impact the guest experience. I would like to note that business volumes in Q3 are temporarily being negatively impacted by the Sumner Tunnel restoration project the City of Boston is conducting, that will be ongoing through August 31.

[Julie Cameron-Doe, CFO at Wynn Resorts]

The impact is primarily being felt in our Table Games business, as both slots and non-gaming revenue continued to grow year-on-year in July. Our Macau operations delivered Adjusted Property EBITDAR of $246.2 million in the quarter on $769.9 million of operating revenue. As Craig noted, we held high in our VIP business. This was more than offset by lower than expected hold on the mass table side. We were encouraged by the meaningful uptick in visitation and demand we experienced during the quarter, with particular strength in mass casino drop, direct VIP Turnover, Luxury Retail Sales, and Hotel Revenue, all above Q2 2019 levels.

[Julie Cameron-Doe, CFO at Wynn Resorts]

EBITDA margin was 32% in the quarter, an increase of 280 basis points relative to Q2 2019, with Wynn Palace's margin reaching 33.4% or 690 basis points above Q2 2019 levels. EBITDA margin strength was driven by a combination of a favorable mix shift to higher-margin mass gaming and operating leverage on cost efficiencies. In fact, our OpEx, excluding gaming tax, was approximately $2.2 million per day in Q2, a decrease of 29% compared to $3.2 million in Q2 2019, and down 2% from Q1, despite the meaningful sequential increase in business volumes. The team has done a great job remaining disciplined on costs, we're well positioned to continue to drive strong operating leverage as the business recovers over time.

[Julie Cameron-Doe, CFO at Wynn Resorts]

In terms of CapEx, we're currently advancing through the design and planning stages on our concession commitments. As we noted the past few quarters, these projects require a number of government approvals, creating a wide range of potential CapEx in the very near term. As such, for 2023 through 2024, we expect CapEx related to our concession commitments to range between $300 million and $400 million. Turning to Wynn Interactive, our EBITDAR Burn Rate decreased both sequentially and year-over-year to $15 million in Q2 2023. Our team continues to stay disciplined on costs while driving improved marketing efficiencies. Moving on to the balance sheet. Our liquidity position remains very strong, with global cash and revolver availability of approximately $4.7 billion as of June 30th.

[Julie Cameron-Doe, CFO at Wynn Resorts]

This was comprised of $1.8 billion of total cash and available liquidity in Macau and $2.9 billion in the U.S. Importantly, the combination of strong performance in each of our markets globally, with our properties run rating approximately $2.2 billion of annualized property EBITDA, together with our robust cash and liquidity, creates a very healthy leverage profile for the company globally. We're also pleased to announce that the board approved a cash dividend of $0.25 per share, payable on August 31, 2023, to stockholders of record as of August 21, 2023, highlighting our commitment to returning capital to shareholders. Finally, our CapEx in the quarter was $92 million, primarily related to the Spa Villa renovations and food and beverage enhancements at Wynn Las Vegas and normal course maintenance across the business.

[Julie Cameron-Doe, CFO at Wynn Resorts]

With that, we'll now open up the call to Q&A.

[Operator]

Thank you. To ask a question, press star one on your touchtone phone. Unmute your phone, record your name clearly after the prompt, and I will introduce you for your question. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up question. To withdraw your question, you may press star two. Our first question comes from Carlo Santarelli from Deutsche Bank. You may go ahead, sir.

[Carlo Santarelli, Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst for Gaming and Lodging at Deutsche Bank]

Hey, Craig, Julie, everyone. Thank you for taking my question. Craig, just on the Macau front, obviously, the reduction sequentially in daily OpEx was a little bit of a differentiator relative to what we've seen in some peer reports. Can you talk a little bit more about that? Also, it looks as though your implied commissions, discounts, et cetera, were as a % of revenue, were down nicely sequentially. Do you expect kind of that trend to continue going forward?

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Sure, Carlo. Well, first, on the OpEx side, I think that we're always moderating, modulating OpEx based on business volumes and what we need to get done in any particular quarter. I think the distinction between us and perhaps some of the other folks that have reported that you have seen, is that we opened with a full complement of folks. So we weren't dragging floors, we didn't have rooms out of service, et cetera, et cetera. So we came out of the gate, with the full OpEx that you're seeing today, and any movements between quarters is really gonna be a function of the business in that quarter. On the commissions and discounts, there hasn't been any, any substantial change to how we do that.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Again, that's gonna be, quite player specific based on the, you know, the, the, the parameters of each player. Again, I, I wouldn't read too much into it.

[Carlo Santarelli, Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst for Gaming and Lodging at Deutsche Bank]

Great. If I could, Craig, a follow-up. Turning to Las Vegas, obviously, very strong performance, especially on the cost discipline side. Can you talk a little bit, I believe your labor contract actually ends in July, so I, I, I wouldn't have expected any, any impact. Could you talk a little bit about how you guys intend to kind of accrue for, you know, what may be a settlement and, and some new terms going forward or anything that was, was present in, in the 2Q, perhaps?

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Sure. How much time have you got, Carlo?

[Carlo Santarelli, Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst for Gaming and Lodging at Deutsche Bank]

I've got plenty. Plenty, I guess.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Well, first, what I'll say is this, first and foremost, the team at Wynn Las Vegas is the heart and soul of the place. They're very important to me, and it's the same reason that we paid everybody, during the closure, during COVID. If you look over the term of the last union contracts, their contractual wage increases initially outpaced inflation, and then, of course, lagged inflation over the course of the past couple of years. Net-net, over the last contract, they were actually flat versus core CPI. Unfortunately, and it's a reality, rent in Las Vegas has increased more than CPI over that same period, and it's very important to me that our employees can support stable home environment for their families.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

I expect there will be some back and forth as we work with Culinary to find a fair compensation level that supports our folks, particularly our non-tip folks, and their ability to maintain their housing. It's pretty early in the process, so we're not really even close to quantifying dollars yet or talking about accruals, but rest assured, we'll figure it out in a way that's positive for the business over the medium and long term.

[Carlo Santarelli, Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst for Gaming and Lodging at Deutsche Bank]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next caller is Joe Greff with J.P. Morgan.

[Joe Greff, Managing Director in Equity Research at JPMorgan]

Good afternoon, guys. Craig, when, when, when you look back at the 2Q, would, would you say, in Macau, would, would you say, when Macau on the Peninsula was had a meaningful amount of renovation disruption to the EBITDA line that you would call out, or do you think you were able to effectively shift what would otherwise have been disrupted to either other parts of the casino or to your property on, in Cotai?

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Well Thanks Joe the renovations that took place were smack dab in the middle of the casino floor. Certainly, there was a level of disruption. I think the more macro point would be that a lot of the visitation that has come back, particularly for us, has come back in Cotai. If you think about a world where there are no longer any junkets, yet we're holding market share, I'm incredibly proud of what we've been able to do on a combined basis. Certainly, we have work to do in terms of share downtown. You know, the business will go as that share goes. It's pretty simple business. Your market share times the market, minus taxes, minus OpEx, equals EBITDA.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Our focus is on driving share downtown, and really, that's the way that we think about the business going forward. That's why we did the renovations in the first place. I, I don't wanna give you the impression that the quarter's results were entirely a function of the renovation, because they're not. Certainly, on the margin, they were impacted.

[Joe Greff, Managing Director in Equity Research at JPMorgan]

Okay. I'm presuming the renovation was completed at some point in June, if you can confirm that. Would you, would you expect that that Cotai and Peninsula would be more in balance going forward, similar to 2019, or do you think visitation dynamics are such where the Cotai region is just gonna get a little bit more, more traction?

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Confirmed, and the latter.

[Joe Greff, Managing Director in Equity Research at JPMorgan]

Got it. Okay. You called out, as others did in the 1Q and parts of the 2Q, this reporting season, talking about low hold on the mass side. We can see the hold percentages the last couple of quarters versus what you did in 2019 at both properties. What, what is that a function of? Are players betting side bets or they playing differently, or is it really just a couple of quarters of, you know, aberrations and expected table hold percentages?

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Yeah, you're right. You know, historically, by the way, we haven't normalized for mass hold, and that was that made sense when the business was more balanced between mass and VIP. That's something we're gonna rethink going forward. To your question, very specifically, it's really a function of, of two things, and it was most acute at Wynn Macau, rather than, than Wynn Palace. It's a function of volumes and normal course volatility. You mentioned just normal aberrations, and certainly that's part of it. Volume inherently smooths volatility. When you had, you know, tour groups and you had core mass, and you had just more bodies coming to Macau, the, the impact of volatility was inherently muted, and that's just not the case right now. I would expect to continue to see volatility.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Sometimes it'll be to our benefit, and sometimes it'll be to the players.

[Joe Greff, Managing Director in Equity Research at JPMorgan]

Great. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next caller is Shaun Kelley with Bank of America. You may go ahead.

[Shaun Kelley, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Bank of America]

Hi, good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. Craig, maybe one more about Macau, but just wondering if you could give a little bit of color about sort of, you know, segments of business, what you're seeing across, you know, particularly behavior-wise, across premium mass and VIP. I'm really thinking kind of spend per visit relative to what's left o recover on the visitation side as you look to, you know, see things normalize?

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Yeah, our, I'm gonna not comment on VIP because it's obviously very patron specific, and VIP volumes are, while surprisingly good, still a fraction of what they were previously. On the mass side, we've seen length of stay decline, which makes sense, because during COVID, if you made the commitment to come, you were coming for an extended period, but we've seen spend per customer actually go up. Frequency has increased, length of stay has decreased, and spend per customer has gone up, which is great because that, that gives you the opportunity to make efficient use of your rooms, and is generally good for business. I don't really have a comment on VIP.

[Shaun Kelley, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Bank of America]

Very helpful. Then, maybe one for you or Julie, just wanted to ask about the, the CapEx comment in the prepared remarks. I believe the call-out was, you know, around some of the concession commitments and something around $300 million-$400 million. The question is, was that a per year number, or is that a total number across kind of 2023 and 2024? Then if you could just remind us how you're thinking about sort of the, the CapEx versus possible OpEx components related to the, you know, that, that concession process, because I know it's a little different for everybody, and I know these plans are, are moving around some.

[Julie Cameron-Doe, CFO at Wynn Resorts]

Sure Thanks Shaun I'll take that. Yeah, that number we've given out, the $300 million-$400 million, is the 2023-2024 number. You know, we've done that. I think we've, we've, we've always foreshadowed that the process takes some time because of, because of all the different approvals that are required. You know, we were, we were hopeful that we would get more on this year, but actually now we're looking at, you know, the $300 million-$400 million over the 2023-2024 period in total. In terms of how we're thinking about the concession, you know, it's more than half of the commitment we made, more than half of the, you know, the $2 billion was, is, is CapEx related.

[Julie Cameron-Doe, CFO at Wynn Resorts]

We do expect that to be, to be front-end loaded. You know, obviously, with the $300-$400 in the first two years, and then, you know, a similar clip to that for 2 years after that.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Then I would just point out that on the OpEx side, I would just like to remind you that there's a lot of things that we do in the business today that already support non-gaming, and so we don't expect all of that to be incremental.

[Shaun Kelley, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Bank of America]

Very clear. Thank you, everyone.

[Shaun Kelley, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Bank of America]

Sure.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next caller is Stephen Grambling with Morgan Stanley. You may go ahead, sir.

[Stephen Grambling, Managing Director and Head of US Gaming, Lodging and Leisure Research at Morgan Stanley]

Hi, Thanks maybe a clarification on July in Macau. I think you said the run rate was 120% of 2019 levels on hold. Should we think of that as true for, you know, hold-adjusted win rate comparing versus 2019? Any reason to believe that the $2.2 million in OpEx per day would be similar or different during that month versus the quarter as we build going forward?

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Sure, the 120% that I referenced was drop, so win obviously has no impact. OpEx, no expectation of any material changes in OpEx.

[Stephen Grambling, Managing Director and Head of US Gaming, Lodging and Leisure Research at Morgan Stanley]

Then maybe on, as a follow-up on capital allocation, I think if we take the $2.2 billion run rate, EBITDAR, less the concession spend, some other CapEx in Vegas and the dividend, looks like there, there could still be some free cash flow left over. Is that, is that the right way to think about it? Is there appetite and/or ability to ramp capital return, or do you generally think the pandemic has altered how you think about liquidity and leverage?

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Julie, do you want to take the first portion of that, and I'll take the second?

[Julie Cameron-Doe, CFO at Wynn Resorts]

About the, about the CapEx?

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

About the free cash flow.

[Julie Cameron-Doe, CFO at Wynn Resorts]

Sure. yeah, you're, you're quite right. You know, we're, we're now with the $2.2 billion run rate and, you know, and, and interest under control and all of that. We have sizable discretionary big free cash flow, and so we're very focused on, and, you know, what, what we'll be doing in terms of delevering, returning to shareholders, and of course, all of the exciting projects we have in front of us.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Yeah, we're, we're well capitalized at the moment. I expect we will maintain some extra liquidity until we really see how a few things play out. First is New York, the second is the macroeconomy, the third is the yield curve. We're always looking at the, the markets, the capital markets, and thinking about when to refinance and whether to do it dollar for dollar or modestly delever, and when to return capital to shareholders, primarily by adding to the dividend. We're in a, we're in a bit of a wait and see approach at this moment. If you think about it, we've got a great project in the UAE that is, is gonna be a stunner. We've reinitiated our dividend, and our leverage is, is well under control, so we feel pretty good about where we are.

[Stephen Grambling, Managing Director and Head of US Gaming, Lodging and Leisure Research at Morgan Stanley]

Fair enough. Thanks so much.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Sure.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next caller comes from David Katz with Jefferies. You may go ahead, sir.

[David Katz, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at Jefferies]

Afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. I'm hoping for just a little more insight on margins in Macau. It's, it's, it's been, you know, one of the questions that trying to figure out what the new normal is or could be in the longer term as we think about the future, you know, largely driven by revenue mix. You know, I wonder what updated thoughts you may have versus what we would have had 90 days ago, or, you know, more than that when I was over to, over to visit, where it was the prevailing question. Thank you.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Sure, David. Not, not really. I mean, I think a little bit like what happened in the U.S., we learned to run our business differently. You know, you mentioned primarily related to business mix, and certainly, that's a, that's a component of it, but we're running the business really, really well. The quality of service is as it should be and as it has always been, yet our OpEx has come down pretty meaningfully, and I think it's a testament to Linda and Frederic and Craig Fullalove, our CFO over there, and everything they've been able to do with the business. Really, what you're seeing is, particularly at Palace, you can see it in the margin.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

What you're seeing is the impact of, of both sides of it, with operating leverage coming through from business volumes and, and pretty robust expense control.

[David Katz, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at Jefferies]

Right. You know, leaving it to us to decide on the order of magnitude, but it is fair to assume that there still should be some margin upside in Macau still to be captured as, as, you know, volumes return, correct?

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Well, you know, I haven't been in an Excel model in probably 15 years, but if I were doing one, I would probably hold margin at Palace relatively constant, just to be conservative. I mean, it's in the low 30s today, which is pretty darn good. I would assume that when Macau's margin increases as we, we aggressively fight for share.

[David Katz, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at Jefferies]

Okay, I'll take it. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next caller is Brandt Montour with Barclays. You may go ahead, sir.

[Brandt Montour, Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Barclays]

Hey Good evening, everybody Thanks for taking my question. In Las Vegas, obviously a great result there. RevPAR and ADR were flat to up small year-over-year. Just curious how you're feeling about taking rate from these levels that you're at today. Obviously, occupancy is pretty full. Looking out in the back half of the year, how do you feel about your comparisons, you know, sort of cadence, third quarter, fourth quarter, as well as the sort of financial impact or the hotel impact from F1 in the fourth quarter?

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Sure. I'll start, and then I'll ask, I'll ask Brian to comment. We have grown ADR pretty meaningfully, certainly since, since the property reopened from, from the closure in, in 2020, and I'm incredibly proud of our ability to do that. It, it really speaks to the product that we offer. We've held those rates, and we've continued to have a rate premium to, to the rest of the town. Our ability to continue to take rate really depends on the macro. As I mentioned in my, in my opening remarks, you know, the best I can do is kind of give you a clear picture of what we're seeing right now, and it's good. As I've said before, we have a 2023 playbook for, for really, and 2024, for every, every scenario.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

I'm not really going to forecast whether we think we can continue to take rate given how dependent it is on the overall economy, but we're feeling great about our business. Brian, do you want to talk about pacing?

[Brian Gullbrants, COO - North America at Wynn Resorts]

Sure. Yeah, I mean, if you look at a forward-looking, demand indicators are really remaining quite healthy. The room bookings we have are pacing up year over year. As far as group pace, it continues to be strong. We've mentioned it on previous calls, Q3 and Q4 continue with the same pace that we've had thus far this year. 2023 will wind up being a record group year, and 2024 continues to pace ahead of that. We keep looking for the signs, but lead volume is there, and our team does a great job of converting.

[Brandt Montour, Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Barclays]

Okay, that's super helpful. Then, and then for Al Marjan, appreciate the comments, obviously an exciting property. Can, can you give us an update on the casino license and sort of the pathway there, and just an update if you have everything you need for the sort of full plan that you'd laid out in your initial, projections?

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Sure. I have everything we need to operate gaming in, at Al Marjan. I think there's confusion here because there's a lack of understanding regarding individual emirates versus the UAE as a whole. It's really akin, as I think I've talked about before, to a state and federal system. While there may be conversation in other emirates about legalization or legalization at the federal level, thereby covering all emirates, I expect that we will have our license for Ras Al Khaimah actually imminently. But there should be no concern that there is a legalization process that needs to occur in order for a broader legalization process, in order for gaming to occur in that property.

[Brandt Montour, Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Barclays]

Crystal clear. Thanks for the comments.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Sure.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next caller is Dan Politzer with Wells Fargo. You may go ahead, sir.

[Dan Politzer, Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Wells Fargo]

Hey, good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. On prior calls, I think you mentioned that you could get back to a run rate EBITDA, and I think it was the $26 billion-$27 billion range for GGR. I mean, given what you're seeing in terms of mix and margin, is that still achievable? You know, going back to that July 120% data point that you gave, is this something that maybe is achievable in the back end of this year?

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

I mean, it depends on, on the market. Again, you know, the model there is, is as I said, pretty straightforward. Your share times the market, minus taxes, minus OpEx. it really depends on, on which way the market goes. The, the market estimate where we think we would get back remains as you described, probably closer to 27 versus 26, based on the share we turned in this particular quarter, but generally, that holds true.

[Dan Politzer, Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Wells Fargo]

Got it. Then just for my follow-up, in terms of Wynn Macau, you mentioned you're gonna, you're gonna be, you know, fighting for share there. Is it fair to, to say that margins maybe come down a little bit from these current levels? I guess more broadly, as it relates to premium mass, are you seeing, you know, an uptick in promotions within that segment?

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

On the second question, no. The market has been pretty disciplined, and we're certainly pleased with that. On the first question, I don't think you should expect margin to go down at Wynn Macau. If the subtext of your question was, will we need to get promotional in order to drive business to Wynn Macau? No, you should not assume that the margin will go down because we have tremendous operating leverage that comes with each 10 basis points of share at that property.

[Dan Politzer, Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Wells Fargo]

Got it. Thanks, that's helpful.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next caller is Chad Beynon with Macquarie. You may go ahead, sir.

[Chad Beynon, US Director of Research and Head of Gaming and Leisure at Macquarie]

Afternoon Thanks for taking my question. wanted to ask about the Interactive cash burn. you mentioned that that's come down again, year-over-year and sequentially. Are you still on track for this to turn profitable in the fourth quarter? Any other kind of insights in terms of where this is going and how the flow-through, should look if, if revenues rise from here during peak season? Thanks.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Sure. I don't think we ever said it would be, break even in the fourth quarter, but what we are focused on is, making sure that it goes down every quarter.

[Julie Cameron-Doe, CFO at Wynn Resorts]

Right. Yeah, I just, I mean, the, you know, sports betting is a tough business. It's a, it's about the game, a commodity. They're difficult businesses, but we're very focused on managing this business. We've got a very long-term, shareholder-friendly view on it. You know, that's our focus.

[Chad Beynon, US Director of Research and Head of Gaming and Leisure at Macquarie]

Thank you. Another one on Macau. You just mentioned that the $27 billion GGR number. We did see some sequential growth in the, in the last recent month. I'm just wondering, as some of the farther out visitors come back to the market, I guess we'd kind of have to look through the database, figuring out where all the premium players are in all of China. Does this matter as much for you guys, or, you know, are there enough people in kind of Hong Kong and Guangdong for you to continue to put up numbers? You know, do you really need some of those further out markets to, to open up from a visa and just a visitation standpoint?

[Chad Beynon, US Director of Research and Head of Gaming and Leisure at Macquarie]

Are they driving higher, you know, spend per trip than, than what you're seeing in, in the property right now?

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Every customer matters, Chad. Of course, we wanna see the outer lying regions start to contribute to Macau. Are we dependent on it? No. Certainly that's gonna add incremental heft to the recovery, and that's gonna add incremental heft to the total market, which again, pushes us further back towards, towards break even. Sorry, break even with 2019 or equal to 2019.

[Chad Beynon, US Director of Research and Head of Gaming and Leisure at Macquarie]

Makes sense. Appreciate it. Thank you very much.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Sure.

[Operator]

Our next caller is John DeCree with CBRE. You may go ahead, sir.

[John DeCree, Senior Equity Analyst at CBRE]

Thanks for taking my questions. Maybe just a two-part question on Las Vegas, Craig, to the extent you can provide maybe a little bit more color around the visibility you have for, for the big events like F1 or, or Super Bowl. Then maybe the, the second part of that question is, when you look at your forward demand indicators, for bookings, you know, how, how much of that kind of year-on-year growth is tethered to those events? You know, excluding those events, are you still seeing, you know, good booking indicators for those, you know, maybe less peak periods or less kind of event-driven periods?

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Sure. I'll start, and then I'll ask Brian to comment. So Brian's prior comment on booking pace was independent of those events, to answer your last question. Yeah, F1, Super Bowl, I mean, these are events that are made for us, right? Because we end up picking up the top end of the patrons and customers that come to town for those events. So we're really excited about it, about where we are and where we sit. Brian, do you want to provide some more color?

[Brian Gullbrants, COO - North America at Wynn Resorts]

Sure. Yeah, I think both of these events, specifically F1 and then Super Bowl, definitely play to the strengths of our brand. It's a perfect match. We are getting significant premiums for those two events themselves, and I think we're pacing quite nicely. I know some of our competitors have given more specific data, but I can tell you we're gonna do just fine here.

[John DeCree, Senior Equity Analyst at CBRE]

Very good. Thanks for the color, guys. I appreciate it.

[Julie Cameron-Doe, CFO at Wynn Resorts]

Thanks, John. Operator, the next question will be our last.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our final question comes from Robin Farley with UBS. You may go ahead.

[Robin Farley, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at UBS]

Great, thank you for letting me sneak in here at the end. Can you clarify, just to sort of make it comparable to previous periods, what the VIP hold added to it to make the EBITDA in Macau?

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Julie? Holding back the VIP.

[Julie Cameron-Doe, CFO at Wynn Resorts]

Holding back the VIP. I mean, as we said on the call, we, we held, we held a little bit high on VIP, but that was more than offset by lower, lower mass hold. We're not actually getting into breaking it out.

[Robin Farley, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at UBS]

Okay. Probably, and then,

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

It was, it was about $20 million. We have about $20 million of high hold on VIP, and this is what I was alluding to earlier. We need to-- we're going to start normalizing for mass hold because so much of our business now is mass. It was about $20 million in, in Macau, and low mass hold more than offset that, as Julie said.

[Robin Farley, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at UBS]

Okay, great. I appreciate you breaking that out just to make it kind of comparable to, you know, previous quarters, so thank you. I'm sorry if, if I missed your comment on this, but have you talked about, you know, how much of the margin you think you can hold on to in Vegas?

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Well, in the midst of, in the midst of the dark days of COVID, we put out a permanent cost savings figure, and we've held to that. We certainly, again, learned to run our business differently during COVID. What I would say is that our business volumes over the course of the past year and a half have been absolutely off the charts, and we've held the line and still held true to the brand. You know, the, the, the business kind of is the business now. To the extent that there is a macro, you know, any macro-driven change to our business volumes or to our ADRs, et cetera, we have a playbook for that because we just lived it as we went through COVID, and we'll be ready.

[Craig Billings, CEO at Wynn Resorts]

Again, we're not seeing that, but we're certainly ready for, for every scenario.

[Robin Farley, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at UBS]

Okay. All right, great. Thank you very much.

[Julie Cameron-Doe, CFO at Wynn Resorts]

Well, thank you, operator. With that, That concludes the Q2 earnings call. Thanks, everybody, for your attention. We look forward to talking to you again soon.

[Operator]

Thank you for participating on today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Brian Gullbrants, COO - North America
• Craig Billings, CEO
• Julie Cameron-Doe, CFO

Analysts

• Brandt Montour, Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Barclays
• Carlo Santarelli, Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst for Gaming and Lodging at Deutsche Bank
• Chad Beynon, US Director of Research and Head of Gaming and Leisure at Macquarie
• Dan Politzer, Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Wells Fargo
• David Katz, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at Jefferies
• Joe Greff, Managing Director in Equity Research at JPMorgan
• John DeCree, Senior Equity Analyst at CBRE
• Robin Farley, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at UBS
• Shaun Kelley, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Bank of America
• Stephen Grambling, Managing Director and Head of US Gaming, Lodging and Leisure Research at Morgan Stanley