Whoa! Wynn Macau has just under 500 gaming tables, only 1,000 hotel rooms, and a collection of shops and F&B outlets that covers a fraction of the square footage of its rival in Cotai. And yet it managed to generate Ebitda of US$296m in 4Q 2010, just under US$50m short of what Sands China did with three properties, twice the number of tables, three times as many hotel rooms, and more retail and F&B space than the whole of the peninsula combined.

It helps when your win-hold in direct-VIP play is so good, we have to admit. And Steve Wynn, always the eccentric master of the conference call, made sure to point this out last night. But we also have to tip our hats to Wynn Macau president Ian Coughlan, who managed to squeeze a good chunk of change out of the non-gaming side of the business and who has pulled away from his rivals on the peninsula in the mass component of the gaming business, too. And all this while the junkets at the property were left smiling: rolling-chip volumes outgrew everyone else (except MGM, for obvious reason), up nearly 30% QoQ. That put its junket business at about half of mighty SJM’s and still 50% more than MGM’s despite its recent runup.

The question going forward is whether Wynn can get moving fairly soon on his Cotai project. He says he has verbal approval and is hoping to start work next month or in April. We thought this was the copyrighted trademark of his rival across town – announcing something related to government approvals as imminent – and so were somewhat surprised he said it, given that the previous prediction had been before the end of 2010. No government official likes to have his “verbal” approvals aired in public before his masters in Beijing have signed off on it. Anyway, we will just have to wait and see. Stay tuned.

Used with permission and copyright IntelMacau