CRESCO RESEARCH
The budget rose $600 million to $5.7 billion. Most coverage calls that the cost of the regional war. Wynn said about half of it is.
Wynn Resorts has pushed the opening of its Ras Al Khaimah resort from March 2027 to September 2027 and added $600 million to the construction budget. Chief executive Craig Billings gave both numbers on the second quarter earnings call on 4 August 2026.
Most of the write ups have called that $600 million the price of the regional war. Wynn did not say that. Billings said approximately half of the increase is directly attributable to disruption from the regional conflict. He put the other half down to remeasurement, trade coordination and other costs he described as independent of anything happening in the region.
If you hold Wynn stock, or you are watching the Gulf as a place to put money, that difference is the whole story. One version says a war just cost a US operator six hundred million dollars. The other says a war cost it three hundred million and a very large construction project did what very large construction projects do.
| Component | Amount | Wynn's attribution |
|---|---|---|
| Regional conflict | about $300 million | Materials, shipping, and pre opening and capitalized interest from the longer schedule |
| Everything else | about $300 million | Remeasurement, trade coordination and other project costs, called independent of the region |
| Total | $600 million | Disclosed on the Q2 2026 call, 4 August 2026 |
On a $5.1 billion base, a $300 million war premium is about 5.9 per cent. The full $600 million would be 11.8 per cent. Reporting the larger number as geopolitical risk overstates it by roughly double, which matters if you are pricing Gulf exposure off this one data point.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Wynn Resorts stake | 40 per cent of the joint venture |
| Wynn cash injected to date | about $1.1 billion |
| Total project cost | $5.7 billion |
| Cost before the increase | $5.1 billion |
| Rooms and suites | 1,530 |
| Implied cost per key | about $3,725,490 |
| Opening | September 2027 |
| Previous opening | March 2027 |
Wynn owns 40 per cent of the venture, not all of it, so the headline project cost is not all Wynn's bill. The company has put in about $1.1 billion of cash so far. At $5.7 billion across 1,530 keys the build is running near $3,725,490 a room, which is the number that explains why a schedule slip moves the budget in hundreds of millions.
The six month slip also moves the first full operating season from 2027 into 2028. For a project of this scale that is a revenue timing question before it is anything else.
You will see 9,000 employees attached to this resort. That number is doing different work than it looks.
| Figure | What it measures |
|---|---|
| 9,000 plus | Direct and indirect jobs across Ras Al Khaimah and other emirates. An economic impact estimate |
| 3,000 | Employees Wynn Al Marjan expects on its own books by December 31, 2026 |
| 2,750 | Roughly what it plans to recruit before opening |
| 251 | Employees it had at the end of Q4 2025 |
The resort is hiring toward about 3,000 of its own staff, from 251 at the end of 2025. That is the operating business. The 9,000 includes contractors and suppliers across more than one emirate.
Wynn Al Marjan Island holds the first Commercial Gaming Facility Operator licence issued in the United Arab Emirates. The General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority issued it and Wynn announced it on 4 October 2024. When it opens it will be the first integrated resort with commercial gaming in the country, which is the part a six month delay does not change.
Sources. The opening date, the $600 million increase and the conflict split come from Craig Billings on the Wynn Resorts second quarter 2026 earnings call, 4 August 2026, as reported by Khaleej Times, CDC Gaming and iGaming Business. The $5.7 billion and $5.1 billion totals come from Gulf News. Staffing comes from the Wynn Al Marjan 2025 annual report. The licence detail comes from Wynn Resorts' own newsroom release.
What is not here. No claim about Ras Al Khaimah property prices appears on this page. Our market data is the Dubai Land Department sales register, which covers Dubai and not Ras Al Khaimah. We have no RAK transaction data, so we will not tell you what this resort does to local prices. Anyone who does is estimating.
Limits. Every figure is a company disclosure or a report of one, not an independent measurement. Construction budgets are estimates until completion and this one has moved once already. The conflict versus non conflict split is Wynn's own characterization and cannot be audited from outside. The villa count is omitted because sources conflict. Dirham figures convert at the pegged rate of 3.6725.
September 2027, moved from March 2027. Wynn chief executive Craig Billings confirmed it on the second quarter 2026 earnings call on 4 August 2026.
About $600 million, from $5.1 billion to $5.7 billion, an increase of 11.8 per cent.
No. Billings said about half, roughly $300 million, is directly attributable to the regional conflict. He attributed the rest to remeasurement, trade coordination and other costs independent of the region.
40 per cent of the joint venture. Wynn has injected about $1.1 billion in cash to date.
It holds the first Commercial Gaming Facility Operator licence issued in the UAE, from the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority, announced 4 October 2024. It will be the country's first integrated resort with commercial gaming when it opens.
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