(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)

Wynn Resorts - which is building an integrated resort Wynn Al Marjan in a joint venture with RAK Holding in Ras Al Khaimah - expects two competitors emerging in the UAE in the coming few years and sees 100 per cent market share early on of the $3 to $5 billion gaming market, its chief executive said.

“We were factoring in two incremental competitors and a market that is $3 to $5 billion of GGR (gross gaming revenue). We always tend to operate at a fair share premium... With no announced competition that we're aware of in the (UAE) market thus far, there probably is some conservatism in those estimates,” Craig Billings, CEO of Wynn Resorts, said during a web call with analysts after the third quarter 2025 results.

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Set to open in early 2027, the $3.9-billion Wynn Al Marjan is the first property in the UAE licensed to operate as an integrated gaming resort. In October 2024, hotel and casino operator Wynn Resorts was awarded the UAE's first commercial gaming operator's licence by the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA).

While speaking during a Skift summit, Jim Murren, executive chairman of GCGRA, said he expected up to four integrated resorts in the UAE in the coming years.

While speaking during a conference call, Craig Billings said the UAE is“a very robust local market, a very high GDP per capita” market.“It's a very small market, geographically, but it's very tightly coupled. (Wynn Al Marjan) is about 50 minutes from Dubai, all with great road infrastructure. Those are all the things that we look at when assessing market size,” he said during a web call with analysts.

With regard to marketing and creating a buzz to launch the project, he said one-to-one marketing and player engagement have been going on for quite some time.

“Mass marketing and mass communication, you obviously roll out much closer to the actual opening. So we are actively marketing to the folks that we will want in the building on a one-to-one basis. You should expect to see a lot more on the mass marketing side as 2026 progresses,” he added.

Wynn Resorts said in the third quarter results that it added that the UAE is one of the most exciting new markets for integrated resort development in decades.

The US hotel and casino operator sees the Al Marjan Island property adding $345 million of EBITDAR (cash flow and management fees) to its existing base.

During the third quarter of 2025, the company contributed $93.9 million of cash to the 40 per cent-owned joint venture that is constructing the Wynn Al Marjan Island development in the UAE, bringing its life-to-date cash contributions to the project to $835 million.

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