Wynn knocks Trump, talks about Mirage plans

Friday, May 30, 1997 | 11:44 a.m.

"Outperforming Donald Trump in Atlantic City is child's play," Wynn said. "All his properties together have never made a dime."

Wynn touched on the ongoing legal and political battle between his company and Trump in Atlantic City at Mirage Resorts' annual meeting Thursday at its flagship Mirage hotel-casino.

He characterized a feud between him and Trump as less an ego and more about business.

A shareholder characterized Atlantic City's casino operations dominated by Trump as a "bone yard" for gaming that needs a Vegas-style megaresort to boost its fortunes.

"I don't think the Atlantic City market has matured," Wynn said, responding to the shareholder.

A New Jersey judge recently blocked Trump's attempt to derail a $330 million road and tunnel project to bring gamblers to Mirage Resorts' proposed $2 billion hotel and casino development in Atlantic City. The road and tunnel, which would be largely financed by public money, would link projects by Boyd Gaming Corp., Circus Circus Enterprises Inc. and Mirage Resorts.

Wynn's comments came during an upbeat annual meeting before a packed 1,500-seat Siegfried & Roy showroom at the resort.

Wynn fielded a variety of questions from shareholders during the two-hour meeting, with talk of the company's newest projects dominating the discussion.

He said the $1.4 billion Bellagio resort on the Las Vegas Strip is scheduled for a Sept. 3, 1998 opening, while the $475 million Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Miss., will open 90 days later.

"If we never ring the cash registers, Treasure Island can pay the interest on the loans," Wynn said of the $1.75 billion line of credit that will be tapped to help pay for the projects.

He also said Mirage would consider buying another gaming company if the deal made sound financial sense. He said the company has looked at many such deals.

But too many of the gaming industry's struggling operations, he said, are plagued by aging buildings that lack prime locations.

"It's hard not to make a bad deal. There's so many around, and they're so easy to make," Wynn said.

Mirage Resorts reported net income of $206 million, or $1.06 a share, for the 1996 fiscal year. That was an increase of 26 percent, from net income of $163.2 million, or 85 cents a share, for the previous year.

The company's Mirage produced operating cash flow of $237 million in 1996, an increase over the $229 million reported for the previous year. Treasure Island, also on the Las Vegas Strip, generated cash flow of $122.7 million, compared with $117.6 million a year earlier.

Wynn said the company's total cash flow will jump from $405 million in 1996 to an estimated $850 million with the openings of Bellagio and Beau Rivage.

The expected 2000 or 2001 opening of the company's $750 million Le Jardin resort in Atlantic City is expected to increase the company's annual cash flow beyond $1 billion, he said.