Why I want to own a Casino 2.0

This will be my third annual why I want to own a casino post in which I marvel at obscene amounts of money and rip on Donald Trump. Previous posts are here: 2006 and 2007.

Today we'll use the Wynn as our example. The Wynn is a lovely place, though they do not get my patronage due to their high table limits and overpriced rooms. They have one in Las Vegas and a brand new one in Macau, SAR, China. The one in Macau is spectacular and I did spend the night there in 2006, but that's another story (part 1 and 2).

All data, as always, is from the 10-K forms filed with the SEC. No arguing these numbers.

Income for Wynn, just one hotel in Las Vegas, is a staggering $2.9 billion dollars. Of that $1.9 billion dollars is from the casino. That's an average take of $5.3 million dollars per day just on the casino -- out of which winnings are $3.2 million dollars per day. That leaves $2.1 million dollars per day in profit.

To be fair, "doubtful accounts" are budgeted at $100,000 per day. These accounts are owned the skeletons they found in the desert, back in the day. I maintain that trained monkeys could operate a casino. Trump bankrupted his. Why do people respect this man?

Another property is Boyd Casinos. It's a chain. Wynn makes as much as their entire chain. But Boyd operates "locals" casinos for the most part, though they're building a strip resort called Echelon now. And they own part interest in Atlantic City's Borgata. Still $1.7 billion annual income on casino against $752 million paid out still leaves about a billion left over for the year. What could you buy with a billion bucks? A tank of gas. Maybe even two.

The rest of the operation is profitable too. But we don't need to discuss that. I wish some brave company would let me run their casino for a few years. I know casinos, I know gambling (for better or worse) and I could run one. They probably can't afford me. :)

I am going to visit Mom on mother's day. I got a ticket. It's embarrassing what a plane ticket costs now. Then again, after filling up my car maybe it's not so unreasonable.