Wynn Sets September 2027 Opening for UAE Resort as Q2 Beats Estimates

Wynn Resorts (WYNN ) used its second-quarter results on August 4, 2026 to deliver two pieces of news investors had been waiting on: a quarter that cleared Wall Street’s revenue and earnings estimates, and a firm opening date for Wynn Al Marjan Island in the United Arab Emirates — September 2027, roughly six months later than the spring 2027 window the company had been working toward.

The quarterly release shows operating revenues of $1.86 billion for the three months ended June 30, 2026, up $119.1 million on the same period of 2025 and ahead of the roughly $1.83 billion analysts had penciled in. Adjusted earnings of $1.24 per diluted share beat a $1.16 consensus. Net income attributable to Wynn Resorts more than doubled to $140.1 million, or $1.32 per diluted share, against $66.2 million a year earlier — though most of that swing came from a $43.3 million gain on derivatives and a smaller foreign-currency charge, both non-operating items the company strips out of its adjusted figures.

Adjusted Property EBITDAR, the cash-flow measure the industry values gaming assets on, rose just 2.9% to $568.3 million. Inside that modest increase sits a striking split: Wynn Palace in Macau added $44.3 million year on year, while Las Vegas shed $19.6 million, Encore Boston Harbor $7.8 million and Wynn Macau $1.0 million. One property more than carried the group.

Wynn Al Marjan Island gets a date and a bigger budget

The headline disclosure came on the earnings call: chief executive Craig Billings told analysts the Ras Al Khaimah resort — set to be the UAE’s first licensed gaming property — will open its doors to the public in September 2027. The company had flagged a “modest delay” on its first-quarter call in May 2026 without putting a date on it.

The budget moves with the timeline. Wynn is raising the total project budget by approximately $600 million, taking it to roughly $5.7 billion from about $5.1 billion. Billings said around half of the increase is directly attributable to disruption from the regional conflict — higher material and shipping costs, plus pre-opening and capitalized interest costs from the extended construction timeline — with the rest reflecting remeasurement and trade-coordination costs on a project of this scale. Wynn holds a 40% stake in the joint venture alongside local developer Marjan and RAK Hospitality Holding, so its share of the overrun is about $240 million of additional equity. The company contributed $48.1 million of cash to the venture during the quarter, taking its life-to-date contributions to $1.06 billion.

Billings said the returns “will be impacted by an increase in budget” but argued the calculation on a project this size is not spend-more-or-don’t: with thousands of workers on site and trades mobilized in sequence, slowing down would cost more than absorbing the increase. September also lands at the start of the UAE’s peak tourism season.

How Wynn Palace’s tables carried the quarter

The release’s supplemental tables show where the Macau outperformance came from. Mass-market table games at Wynn Palace held 29.7% in the quarter, against 22.3% a year earlier. The volume underneath was ordinary — mass table drop rose just 3.0% to $1.90 billion — but mass table win jumped 36.9% to $563.3 million. Had the property held at last year’s rate on the same drop, mass win would have come in roughly $140 million lower, against a group EBITDAR increase of $15.9 million.

Wynn normalizes for VIP hold but not mass. VIP turnover fell 32.0% at Wynn Palace and 56.4% at Wynn Macau, and VIP hold ran below the 3.1% to 3.4% expected range at both properties, a drag of just over $8.6 million that CFO Craig Fullalove quantified on the call. Asked whether the elevated mass hold was sustainable, Billings was candid about the limits of the accounting:

“We tried to normalize for mass hold. We did that for a few quarters, and nobody liked it. We reverted back to normalizing for VIP, particularly as the market became more mass-oriented,” he told analysts. “You’re right, mass hold was at the higher end of the range.”

In Las Vegas, operating revenue was essentially flat at $643.2 million while EBITDAR fell 8.3% to $215.2 million. The demand side held up — casino revenue rose 6.5%, revenue per available room climbed 2.5% to $501 on a 4.9% higher average daily rate — but operating expenses excluding gaming taxes ran at $4.5 million per day, up 6.2% on contractual wage increases, higher volumes and a full quarter of newly opened venues. Unfavorable hold cost a further $3.6 million. Encore Boston Harbor’s revenue fell 3.0% to $209.3 million and EBITDAR dropped 12.2% to $56.1 million as table hold of 18.1% sat at the bottom of the property’s 18% to 22% expected range, down from 21.3% a year ago. The Boston property still set second-quarter records for hotel revenue and RevPAR.

What the quarter sets up

The call carried a dated pipeline. Construction on Wynn Palace’s long-planned event center and theatre begins in the coming weeks, after the company received its revised land contract from the Macau government in July 2026, with completion expected in 2028. The Enclave — a 432-suite hotel tower announced with first-quarter results that expands Wynn Palace’s room count by about a quarter — starts construction before the end of 2026 and opens in 2029. Wynn guides to $350 million to $400 million of expansionary capital expenditure in Macau this year, inside the $2.6 billion of non-gaming spending it committed to under its concession, $1.6 billion of it capital expenditure.

On capital returns, the Wynn Macau board approved a 2025 final dividend of $150 million, up from $124 million, paid during the quarter, and the Wynn Resorts board declared a $0.25 quarterly dividend payable August 28, 2026 to holders of record on August 14, 2026. The company repurchased 741,098 shares at an average $101.20 for $75 million, leaving $326.1 million of buyback authority. Global cash and revolver availability stood at approximately $4.0 billion as of June 30, 2026, against total debt of $10.72 billion.

The shares, which had closed the August 4, 2026 session at $97.60, jumped as much as 8.6% in after-hours trading on the release. One caution sat inside the outlook: Billings said Las Vegas experienced unusually low hold in July, the first month of the third quarter, and declined to quantify it — that answer comes on the next call.