By all rights, Steve Wynn, CEO of Wynn Resorts, should be very stressed these days.  The Wynn Resorts company, per their Yahoo Finance profile, engages in the development, ownership, and operation of destination casino resorts.  The company owns and operates Wynn Las Vegas and Wynn Macau.  Wynn Las Vegas reported a loss for the most recent quarter ending September 30, 2008 of $16.1 million.  Las Vegas traffic is down substantially and all the Las Vegas casino operators are suffering dearly, at least according to their stock charts.

Steve Wynn just appeared on a Bloomberg television interview earlier today, and he appeared very calm.  He recognizes the difficult environment in today’s economy, but he had already anticipated it, planned for it, and is now ready to navigate through it.

In a similar interview from the Straitstime, here is what he had to say:

In any economy, growth has to be done in phases.  If someone tries to build six hotels at once and finds the market can’t accommodate it, there’s a problem with the planning.

The interview laregely relates to his Wynn Macau property, where the Las Vegas Sands corporation is also involved.  Both companies are struggling with existing and anticipated continuing revenues.  A Las Vegas Sands senior executive chose to blame the government of Macua for their troubles, stating that “government decisions may have hurt the development of Macau casinos”.  Steve Wynn on the other hand views himself as a servant to his dedicated employees, and has already planned for such challenges. He recognizes that the rapid Macau expansion will take time to succeed.

The community has to be given a chance to absorb such expansion in an orderly fashion.  I found the government’s policies are evenhanded.

So there we have two casino operators in the same industry and the same markets.  Las Vegas Sands focuses their priorities on blaming others, while Wynn Resorts takes responsibility and looks forward.  If only the CEO’s of the other gambling industries - housing, banking, insurance, and auto - could take note of Steve Wynn’s attitude on economic cycles.  Perhaps they should have planned better for the expected downturn and foregone the need to beg for tax breaks, bailouts, and special subsides!

The latest gambling CEO bailout begging? - The chairman of Hovnanian is begging for direct government to consumer housing loans of 3%, as well as additional tax credits for buyers.