New casinos will be the main focus for many throughout this year as some developers and operators in the United States, as well as in the international scene look to expand their businesses. In the US, we have Steve Wynn, owner and CEO of Wynn Resorts have just unveiled his plan for Boston. Across the Pacific Ocean, we have the Asian VIP gaming investor Imperial Pacific International Holdings making plans to debut one of their casinos on the island of Saipan.
Wynn Groundbreaking by July
Steve Wynn has vowed that the Wynn Boston Harbor casino groundbreaking will happen in July. The total project will cost around $2 billion, and has plans of being built in record time of 28 to 29 months, meaning the casino would open its doors by 2019. His plans might get delayed if Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone successfully appeals a key environmental certificate the project needs in order to proceed. As Curtatone stated during the event,
“Wynn is used to getting what he wants in Massachusetts, and Somerville is used to fighting for what is right and we will continue to do so. In the absence of any apparent interest of Wynn to work with our community, the appeals process is our only option right now to be sure the health and welfare of our community are considered and accounted for in this process.”
Wynn invited press and other locals to the unveiling of his 3D model and layout of the campus, gaming, and the renderings of the lobby. He has plans for placing a $27-million sculpture of Popeye, the famous cartoon sailor, in the lobby; claiming he bought the statue specifically for the Everett casino. So far, his team has spent nearly $300 million, which have bumped his earlier project budget of $1.7 billion up to $2 billion.
Imperial Pacific and the Saipan Casino
The investor group, Imperial Pacific International Holdings, has their own plans in the works to debut the Grand Mariana Casino and Hotel Resort in Garapan. This proposal was passed, as the company had suffered huge losses in 2014, approximately $200 million, but saw a vast improvement in 2015 after ending a bad partnership with the Heng Sheng Group in Macau; gaining $29 million from that venture. However, they still had a small $10.9 million loss for 2015 but is nothing compared to their previous year.
With their new casino in the works, hoping to get everything ready for a permanent December debut, they will be looking at positive revenue figures for the next years. Pacific International had officially launched the temporary casino in November of 2015, where they recorded VIP turnover of around $7.3 billion, a very impressive number. They have already invested $60 million in the design, consulting, and construction of the project and they are moving forward at full speed.
