Wynn drops bid in Illinois

Friday, Feb. 20, 2004 | 11:13 a.m.

Las Vegas casino resort developer Steve Wynn is abandoning efforts to develop a casino in the Chicago area, but is simultaneously moving closer to building his long-planned casino in China.

Wynn Resorts will finance part of its planned $500 million-plus Macau casino project with a $350 million loan to be arranged by Deutsche Bank AG and Societe Generale, Bloomberg News reported today.

Steve Wynn said the company wants to focus on its Macau opportunity in China and its $2.4 billion Las Vegas Strip megaresort as he issued a brief explanation for Wynn Resorts' withdrawal from a bid for Illinois' 10th casino license in a statement released this morning.

"We are so completely committed to Wynn Las Vegas and Wynn Macau that we felt we should focus on these enormous opportunities," Steve Wynn said.

Wynn told the Illinois Gaming Board on Tuesday that he was pulling out of a joint bid Wynn Resorts had submitted with Chicago real estate titan Neil Bluhm's Midwest Gaming and Entertainment, and the board announced the withdrawal Thursday as it released details about the seven final bids for the coveted license.

Bluhm issued a statement about Wynn's withdrawal from the pair's $360 million bid.

"Wynn Resorts did not have the same commitment to the project as Midwest Gaming," Bluhm said.

Wynn said last week he planned to fly to Chicago to meet with the Gaming Board on Feb. 10; he said at the time that it was anybody's guess which bids the board would select as its three finalists.

The board plans to announce its three finalists on Wednesday, instead of Monday as it had earlier announced. Board Chairman Elzie Higginbottom said in a statement that the board changed the announcement at the request of board staff.

Aside from Bluhm's Midwest Gaming, the six other finalists for the Illinois license include three Las Vegas-based operators. Harrah's Entertainment Inc. submitted a bid to build in Waukegan, while Mandalay Resort Group and its partner entered an offer to build in Summit. Caesars Entertainment was one of three bidders to offer plans for a Rosemont casino.

Other bidders include: Isle of Capri Casinos and Penn National Gaming, both with Rosemont bids; Southland Development, which plans a Country Club Hills casino, and Midwest Gaming, with a bid for a Des Plaines casino.

Wynn's withdrawal announcement from Illinois coincided with a Bloomberg report that Wynn Resorts has decided to have a pair of banks arrange a $350 million loan for its Wynn Macau project.

The two banks plan to sell the loan to a wider group of banks in late March or early April, Societe General spokeswoman Laura Schalk told Bloomberg.

No details of the loan's term or cost were reported.

Bloomberg also reported that Wynn Resorts hopes to complete financing for its $500 million-plus Wynn Macau project by the middle of the year and to start operating in 2006, citing a banker close to the deal who requested anonymity.

Wynn Macau would compete in the dynamic market with established Macau operator Stanley Ho as well as with a casino now under construction partially owned by Las Vegas Sands, parent of The Venetian.

MGM MIRAGE spokesman Alan Feldman reiterated this morning that the Strip giant has had conversations about a possible MGM MIRAGE investment in the semiautonomous Chinese enclave with Ho's daughter, Patsy Ho. But no deal has been announced.

Wynn was unavailable this morning to comment on Wynn Macau financing.