UAE Gets Own ‘Casino Consortium’ as Wynn Resort Causes Investment Push
Date: September 2022
Location: Ras Al Khaimah, UAE
What Did They Say: Gaming getting closer to UAE
Who They: A consortium focusing on gaming has been created in the UAE – Carter Hones Associates, WT Partnership and Westar Architects International
Main photo: The planned Wynn “mega-resort” planned to open 2026
A consortium focusing on gaming has been created in the UAE, as the upcoming Wynn Resort in Ras Al Khaimah sparks conversation across the industry. The exact details behind the resort’s gaming facility have yet to be confirmed, but simply the announcement of the resort has caused a surge in investor interest across the entire emirate.
Now, Dubai based project consultancy Carter Hones Associates have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with cost consultancy WT Partnership ME and Macau/Las Vegas-based gaming and entertainment architectural practice, Westar Architects International Limited to form the UAE’s first dedicated gaming and entertainment consultancy service.
Carter Hones Associates COO Nathan Hones called the firm “the region’s first casino consortium,” on LinkedIn.
The creation of the consortium paves the way for a specialised service of gaming facility planning and strategy, market studies and revenue analysis, hotel refurbishment strategies and cost consultancy of gaming facilities new to the region.
The team from Carter Hones Associates, with their 18 years in the UAE, have regional project expertise built around a number of sectors, including hospitality projects and in particular hotel refurbishment.
When the MoU was first announced, Hones said: “We are so excited to have signed an MoU with perhaps the most experienced gaming and entertainment designers and cost consultants in the region. Our specialisation in hotel refurbishment and revenue diversification will dovetail perfectly into what we expect will be the continued growth of hotel gaming venues in the UAE.”
“These are exciting times for the UAE and the wider GGC, and we are ready and able to assist our clients achieve their gaming transitions,” added WT Partnership ME director Nick Hayman.
At this year’s Future Hospitality Summit in Dubai, the CEO of Marjan – where the resort is located – said the property will boost investment and development across all of RAK.
The increase in interest in Ras Al Khaimah, and the amount of extra people who will call the emirate home, will see new schools, hospitals and more pop up.
Abdullah AlAbdouli added: “The announcement has changed the perception of Ras Al Khaimah. A lot of investors have started to look at the opportunities here. To support this resort, we need more schools, we need more hospitals, we need more infrastructure. This resort is part of the bigger picture for the whole destination.
“The number of inquiries we’re getting for new developments and investments shows people now view RAK in a new way.”
The CEO also said land prices have increased by 30 percent and residential units by 40 percent since the Wynn Resort was announced.
At the same Summit, the Wynn Resort was heralded as the country’s “next seismic shift,” by HE Raki Phillips, the CEO of Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) and the regulator of the project.
Phillips said: “When you look at seismic changes in tourism in the history of the UAE – from the opening of the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah, a truly iconic luxury hotel in 1999; to the expansion of Emirates Airline; to the Expo 2020 Dubai; these were seismic shifts for the tourism industry of the UAE.
“What Wynn and Marjan Island is doing right now is probably the next seismic shift.”
THPT Comment: Imagine Gaming becoming realty in the Gulf….it would make Las Vegas look like….Noddy?
First Seen: Hotelier Middle East
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