The future of Wynn Resorts’ US$5.1 billion (£3.79bn) pathfinder casino resort in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)–colloquially known as “Ras Vegas”–has been thrown into serious doubt by the ongoing conflict in neighbouring Iran.
With the current ceasefire looking increasingly fragile, the U.S.-Israeli war against radical Islamist Iran threatens to plunge the entire Gulf region into chaos and destruction if hostilities are renewed.
Publicly at least, Wynn executives at corporate headquarters on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada refuse to concede that their dream casino-resort development in Ras Al Khaimah, one of the seven emirates that form the UAE, is at risk.
Bombing Campaign
But one top level source at the company told me: “If we restart the bombing campaign [against Iran], I fear for the future of the project.
“I just can’t see it going ahead if the whole region goes up.”
Wynn Resorts, meantime, are sticking to their plan of opening the first phase of the development on man-made Al Marjan Island, in Spring next year, 2027.
They have admitted that construction was put on temporary hold after the start of the massive U.S. and Israeli bombing campaign against Iranian leaders and military and government infrastructure in late February.
Drones and Missiles
Some members of the design and development leadership team working on “Ras Vegas” were also evacuated after Iran hit back with salvoes of drones and missiles at commercial and military targets in the UAE, Wynn Resorts confirmed.
“But construction on the site is ongoing.”
Al Marjan is only 80kms (50-miles) from Dubai Airport, a major international air hub, which was repeatedly hit by Iran during the hot phase of the conflict.
Influencers
Thousands of influencers and lotus-eater exiles, who extolled Dubai and much of the UAE as a tax-free paradise, have now fled The Gulf and tourism has nose-dived, reshaping the economic calculus of the oil–rich but explosive region.
Work on the Wynn’s Ras Vegas project–which plans 70 floors, over 1,500 rooms, 24 restaurants, luxury retail outlets, a ballroom, a 420-metre private beach and the first regulated casino in the UAE–began in early 2024.
Wynn’s arch rival MGM Resorts International is also developing a US$1.2 billion (£890m) hotel resort called “The Island” on Jumeirah Beach in Dubai, which is scheduled to open in 2028, and has applied for a casino licence for the property.
Jacqui Krum, an Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Wynn Resorts, told iGamingFuture: “The construction site is still ongoing right now
Safety and Security
“We are dedicated to the safety and security of the team members and 22,000 workers who are working on the construction site.”
And Ras Al Khaimah is accelerating a push to become a luxury destination, with plans to double its hotel room supply, open a private jet terminal, and use the upcoming Wynn casino resort opening as a global platform to raise the emirate’s profile, Phillipa Harrison, CEO of the Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, outlined in a social media post.
“We are well on the way to achieving” the 3.5 million visitor target, asserted Harrison.
Confidence amid such uncertainty and the bellicose rhetoric of Mr Trump, who has threatened “to take Iran back to the Stone Age”, can only be admired.
But for the moment it still remains a massive gamble that Ras Vegas doesn’t crump into Lost Vegas.
