As Atlantic City continues to transform itself into a Las Vegas type multi-day resort, the news could bring with it the most expensive casino project ever built at the City by The Sea. Wynn has been flirting with the Atlantic City market for more than a decade, but now its evident he is looking to dominate the east coast as he already does in Las Vegas and Macau.

In an interview with the Atlantic City Press, the man who invented modern Las Vegas said he is ready to build something transformative. “I would like to build a type of drop-dead gorgeous resort that would make people in New York say, ‘I want to go to Atlantic City,’” he said. “I want to make it fashionable.”

However, building something of the size and scale would require significant land, something the Marina District or The Boardwalk are in short supply of. So Wynn wants to build his Wynn Atlantic City on the site of Bader Field, a former airport Bader. He is looking to scoop up 140 of those acres.

 “If we have the property, I’ll build the hotel,” he said of the Bader site. “I’ll guarantee that, and I’ll put it in writing,” he told the Press.

Right now, however, the property is not zoned as a place where casinos are permitted. And lots of political infighting is taking place on whether to utilize that land for casinos or another use such as homes.

Though Wynn did own the Golden Nugget in the 1980s, he sold the property in a strategic move to build the MIRAGE Las Vegas, which invented the modern Las Vegas. In the mid 1990s, his MIRAGE Corp was planning to build a mega resort in the marina district, but he eventually sold Mirage Corp. That property eventually became the Borgata.

More recently, Wynn was in talks with Donald Trump to redevelop Trump Plaza on The Boardwalk.  Last winter Wynn and The Donald were in talks to build a $ 3 billion casino resort on The Boardwalk. The proposed resort was meant to replace the aging Trump Plaza

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine is in favor of finding a way to bring Wynn back to Atlantic City. He recently said last year getting Wynn back into town would help Atlantic City reach "the absolute pinnacle in the industry."

Though Atlantic City is still the second strongest gaming market, it has started to weaken as gaming has become legal in the surrounding states. The region itself is in flux, and billions have been injected in new development projects in the four years since The Borgata galvanized developers. The market is due to get several mega resorts during the next few years, which could help drive more business. All the properties in Atlantic City – with the exception of Borgata—were built before the modern era of the mega resort, meaning their buildings were not designed with today’s more sophisticated guest in mind.

Atlantic City just released its July figures, and year-over-year, results were down for the seventh straight month. Gross revenues for July decreased 2.3 percent in July to $469.6 million. Slot revenues decreased 5.1 percent year-over-year (-1.7 percent, same store).  Table revenues, including poker, increased 4.9 percent year-over-year (+7.8 percent, same store). Even the Borgata saw revenues slip. Borgata revenues were down 3.7 percent in July as slot revenues at the property were off 6.5 percent while revenues grew just one half percent.

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