Wynn Macau drops $10 Million on its Baccarat tables in one month. Suspicions of Cheating or Casino Impropriety?

Kosher or not Kosher $10 million loss?

Back in April, Steve Wynn's multi-billion dollar prized possession casino Wynn Macau claimed it lost $10 million on its baccarat tables. Wynn himself claimed it was the "most unique statistical anomaly in my fifty years doing this."

Even so, when it comes to the equation containing Asians plus Macau plus baccarat, eyebrows have to get raised--especially mine--and those of several emailers asking me what I think of the situation.

Well, Wynn claims that gambling junkets run by Suncity Group, one of the Pacific Rim's biggest junket operators, are what lowered the boom on Wynn's casino during the entire month of April. He said that swings in baccarat, both the good and ugly--and even insane--can be just that. And they can be.

But for an entire month and such a huge loss, that's something else.

Wynn told the press that "the bottom fell out and all the players won millions of dollars."

But what he didn't mention is that there are hundreds of super-high-rolling Asian baccarat players who can win or lose hundreds of thousands if not millions on any given night inside his casino playing baccarat EVERY night.

Which is what makes this $10 million loss so hard to swallow if it's real and unbelievable if it's not.

Robert Hannum, a professor of risk and gaming at the University of Denver, said, "The odds (of such a loss) are astronomically high," and added, "Of course black swans do occur and some might say anything can happen in the casino business."

One reason for skepticism is that this loss contributed to a significant decrease in the stock value of Wynn Resorts. In fact, shares lost 8% over a two-day period.

That is big!

My take: Well, this kind of stuff is outside my bailiwick, but I will go back to a modified version of that equation I spoke of earlier: Asians plus Macau plus baccarat=something not Kosher somewhere.