Wynn Resorts stock slipped more than ten dollars a share during the several weeks following its Sept. 6, opening in Macau.

So what’s happening?

Steve Wynn’s not talking, not yet, anyway, and most of the mainstream news media is doing a good job of paying no attention, but there are some clues, according to industry watchers who made the trip to Macau and they do not ad up to good news for Las Vegas’ best-known developer of new resorts.

Not yet, anyway.

Some of the financial analysts who made the long trip for the opening reportedly came away a little unhappy with what they saw.

What did they see?

The crowds were supposedly not as large as expected and some of the surveyed gamblers reportedly said that, all things considered, they preferred (Sands’ owner) Sheldon Adelson’s nearby Macau gambling hall.

But some of these morning-after views have to be taken with a large barrel of salt.

The success of an opening is not to be judged by the  response of opening night crowds alone, just as the results of the first couple weeks – good, bad or otherwise – don’t mean much.

I clearly recall that when Bellagio opened in 1998, some of the analysts who showed up to assess things, were astounded that the Bellagio actually had rooms available on opening day.

How could this possibly be?

Wynn’s CFO at the time, Dan Lee, rolled his eyes and responded with something like, get real guys. We’re building a resort that is going to be making a lot of money for a long time.

The performance of the Bellagio since then speaks for itself. No resort on the Las Vegas Strip makes more money, although the current owners certainly deserve a ton of credit for their continued fine tuning of what Wynn created.

How many times did he close the doors or limit admittance at The Mirage and Bellagio because he wanted the customers who count, those with money to spend to have a comfortable experience.

On the other hand .  .   . 

When Wynn opened the Beau Rivage at Biloxi in 1999 he clearly overshot the  market by a mile, a fact that he would later concede as he told analysts at that time, “The Beau Rivage is the blinking yellow light in this company.”

Bellagio-like touches of beauty and luxury were not high priorities for  visitors interested in a good  gamble, convenient parking  and  a buffet offering all the  chicken fried steak they could  eat.

So getting back to Macau.

Wynn has told everyone who would listen during the months before the Macau opening that he was  planning  an experience that would surpass anything available there. It was not going to be a “down and  dirty” kind of gambling hall.

On the other hand, Wynn’s right hand man in Macau Jack Binion once told a colleague as they discussed the ambiance at the family’s Horseshoe Casino, “We’ve got to be careful not to make this place too nice.”

He believed at that time that his customer were not looking for  a Caesars Palace approach to style. They wanted the Horseshoe.

But Wynn has always been quick to correct what he sees as a mistake, He projected that kind of thinking at the Golden Nugget 25 years ago, just as he did after the opening of The Mirage, Treasure Island, Bellagio and the Wynn Las Vegas.