Wynn Resorts ends Japan's integrated resort race
Yokohama has officially lost Wynn Resorts as a bidder as the company focuses back on the US and Macau.
Tender Procedure Wynn Resorts to Miss Yokohama
Wynn Resorts pulled out of the Yokohama bidding process known as RFP, Asgam reported, citing other local media, Asahi Shimbun. The report was confirmed by Wynn for Asahi Shimbun, Asia Gaming Brief, another industry publication, wrote.
Based on this report, Wynn has chosen a cautious approach and temporarily curtailed its domestic ambitions to address the growing uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 and refocus its efforts on the domestic market in the United States and Macao, the media added.
Asgam quoted a representative who reportedly said the company decided to pull out of the process because there was not enough time to prepare at this stage. Yokohama officially launched the inquiry procedure on January 21, looking for foreign investors to bring in capital and initiate the Integrated Resort (IR) project in the prefecture.
The decision comes as no surprise, and Wynn was already talking about withdrawing from the trial as early as August 2020, when company CEO Matt Maddox called the company about profits and said Wynn's Japanese ambitions might need to be set aside.
More companies withdrew from the auction
Wynn is not the first company to back out of this process, and Las Vegas Sands decided to shed the towel as early as May 2020, citing a burdensome regulatory framework as the reason. Caesars Entertainment has also decided to drop out, caught in a monumental capital shift through a merger with Eldorado Resorts.
Meanwhile, Nagasaki, another prefecture hoping for an integrated resort project, announced that it had already accepted five offers. The names of specific investors, however, remain hidden for the time being, but some have already been caught, including Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment, which joined forces with Oshidori International Development last week.
The Wynn first announced it would open an office in Yokohama to bid in December 2019. At the same time, the company announced it would invest $ 2 billion in a new building adjacent to the existing Wynn Palace Macau.
The company has yet to announce where the new interest in integrated resorts in Japan may lie, and while the company has officially pulled out of Yokohama, that doesn't mean it won't reappear as a bidder in another prefecture.