Steve Wynn New Casino

Casino King Steve Wynn Sells Mega Estate In Bel Air For $16.55 Million The State Of Nevada Is Trying To Ban Steve Wynn From The Casino Business Steve Wynn Lost More Than $425M From His Scandal.

Apr 27, 2018 BOSTON — Wynn Resorts has renamed the $2.5 billion casino it’s building outside of Boston to Encore Boston Harbor, as the company continues to take steps to distance itself from founder Steve. Steve Wynn, who resigned as CEO last year, has denied the allegations. After the fine was announced, Wynn Resorts issued a statement saying “our company is now focused on a successful launch of Encore Boston Harbor.” The fine was the biggest imposed by any state casino regulatory agency, commission staff and industry experts said. Steve Wynn is rolling the dice in Las Vegas. The casino mogul has put his mansion on the market for $25 million after a $16-million renovation, making it the most expensive home currently listed.

Since sexual assault allegations in 2018, Steve Wynn retired from the gambling industry. Now, regulates in Nevada dispute if they have the right to ban him. In fact, the Nevada Gaming Control Board has been attempting to ban Wynn from further casino-related business in Nevada since October of 2019. In a recent court decision in November 2020, a state judge determined that the NGCB no longer has the right to make such decisions over Wynn.

A Nevada judge has ruled that Steve Wynn cannot be banned from the state’s gambling industry. ©quinntheislander/Pixabay

Prior to 2018, Steve Wynn Was A Titan In The Casino Industry

In 1989, Steve Wynn opened his first casino on the Las Vegas Strip: the Mirage Resort & Casino. At the time, a new casino hadn’t been opened on the strip in two decades, and Wynn intended to bring something different to Sin City: a level of glamour and prestige that had normally been left out of Las Vegas casino architecture.

The success of Wynn’s Mirage location led to the development of a number of other Wynn-branded properties, first around the US — in Atlantic City — and then abroad, as Wynn expanded his empire into Asian gambling capital Macau. By January 2018, Wynn was a powerful billionaire, with a prominent role in the Republican National Committee.

Then, Things Change

At the end of January in 2018, The Wall Street Journal — a leading American newspaper — published an alarming expose revealing decades of sexual misconduct allegations from both Wynn and Wynn Las Vegas President, Maurice Wooden. According to these claims, lawsuits had been filed and settled, often for millions of dollars.

According to the reports, an overwhelming number of female employees at the Wynn Las Vegas, largely working in the salon and spa, had faced sexual misconduct from Wynn. At least 13 women came forward stating that they had been sexually harassed and/or assaulted by Wynn, and had been aggressively discouraged from speaking out.

The Fallout Is Swift

Within a number of days, Steve Wynn had resigned his post as chair of the Republican National Committee, and Wynn stocks fall precipitously in the New York Stock Exchange. Just four days after the expose, the Nevada Gaming Control Board announced that it was beginning a comprehensive investigation into Wynn’s misconduct.

Ten days after the expose was published, Steve Wynn retired from his namesake brand. Despite Wynn’s resignation, the ensuing months — and now, years — see a number of lawsuits filed against Wynn, alleging breaches from insider trading to further allegations of violent sexual assault.

In October of 2019, the class action lawsuit against Wynn was underway. The main plaintiff in the case was Breanna Schrader, a massage therapist who had been employed by Wynn, who alleged that the company had a culture stemming from the very top of permitting sexual misconduct against female employees and silencing them from speaking out.

Nevada Gaming Control Board Has Been On It From The Jump

Since just four days after the initial assault allegations were reported in The Wall Street Journal in 2018, the Nevada Gaming Control Board has closely followed, investigated, and at times, prosecuted Wynn for his misconduct. This has spanned the last several years almost without cease.

In late November 2019, the Nevada Gaming Control Board brought its investigation to Elaine Wynn, the ex-wife of the former Vegas tycoon. According to their reports, Ms. Wynn had intentionally withheld critical information about her then-husband’s alleged misconduct to members of the Wynn Resorts board.

Since Fall 2019, Attempts To Ban Wynn Outright

The most dramatic step taken by the Nevada Gaming Control Board began in October 2019, when the regulatory body announced that it was seeking to wholly ban the gambling magnate from ever working in the Nevada gambling industry again. The commission also levied a significant fine against Wynn, filing a 23-page complaint.

Included in the complaint were five central infractions the Nevada Gaming Commission believed had been perpetrated by Wynn, including his refusal to appear in person at an important investigatory hearing in September 2019. The complaint offered a scathing indictment of Wynn, declaring that he demonstrated dishonesty and a lack of integrity.

The Latest Development: Nevada Judge Rules Ban Impossible

Now, more than a year after the Nevada regulatory body first filed a motion to ban Wynn from further business in the state, a state judge has determined that such a ban is not possible. According to Clark County District Judge Adriana Escobar, the Nevada Gaming Commission does not have the right to make such a decision.

According to Judge Escobar’s decision, Steve Wynn has decisively retired from the gambling industry, and has effectively withdrawn any involvement he has with any gambling companies. As such, Wynn is not conducting business in Nevada and will not do so in the future, and the NGCB cannot ban him from the state.

Steve Wynn used to reside at his Las Vegas property, which could have made this kind of action legally viable. Since the allegations in 2018, however, Wynn has moved out of Nevada. The fact that he no longer lives in the state is a central reason why the local gambling commission no longer has jurisdiction over his future business decisions.

Nevada Gaming Commission Could Appeal This Decision

According to reports about Judge Escobar’s ruling on the attempted ban, the regulatory body could still seek to overturn the decision by bringing the case to the Nevada State Supreme Court. It is not clear at this time whether the NGCB will continue to pursue this extreme, and perhaps final, step of their investigation.

BOSTON (AP) — Two major casino operators said Friday they were in preliminary talks about the possible sale of one of the largest casinos in the Northeast.

Wynn Resorts and MGM Resorts International said in a joint statement they’ve engaged in conversations about the potential sale of Encore Boston Harbor.

This comes as Wynn is about to open the $2.6 billion Everett, Massachusetts, casino.

The companies say the talks won’t delay the Everett opening scheduled for next month.

MGM currently owns a casino in Springfield and would not be allowed to operate two in Massachusetts.

State gambling regulators last month levied a $35 million fine on Wynn Resorts but let Wynn keep its casino license after finding executives failed to disclose allegations of sexual misconduct against company founder Steve Wynn.

It also levied another $500,000 fine on new CEO Matthew Maddox.

The companies said any talks are still in the early stages.

“Over the past several weeks, we have engaged in conversations around the potential sale of Encore Boston Harbor,” the companies said in the statement. “They are very preliminary and of the nature that publicly traded corporations like ours often engage in, and in fact when opportunities such as this are presented, we are required to explore. We cannot say today where these conversations will lead, however we can reaffirm our commitment to the communities where we operate today.”

The companies added that the conversations “will not impact the jobs at our facilities and will not impact the opening of Encore Boston Harbor.”

The Encore Boston Harbor resort has been slated to open June 23, although company officials have said that could be pushed back by a week or two.

In its investigation, Massachusetts Gaming Commission focused on how long Wynn officials were aware of the allegations against Steve Wynn and how they responded, rather than the truth behind the claims.

Steve Wynn, who resigned as CEO last year, has denied the allegations.

After the fine was announced, Wynn Resorts issued a statement saying “our company is now focused on a successful launch of Encore Boston Harbor.”

The fine was the biggest imposed by any state casino regulatory agency, commission staff and industry experts said. The Nevada Gaming Commission in February levied a $20 million fine on Wynn Resorts that was the largest imposed at the time, they said.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission, which regulates casino gambling, had no immediate comment on the talks between the two companies.

Elaine Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the agency, said in a statement the agency said its written decision following the Wynn investigation stands.

“The deadline for fine payment and notice of appeal is May 31. The MGC continues to focus its efforts on the significant amount of regulatory preparations required before Encore’s opening,” Driscoll said in the emailed statement.

The 2011 state law that authorized up to three resort casinos in Massachusetts prohibits companies from holding more than one casino license, so MGM would not be permitted to operate both the Springfield and Boston Harbor facilities.

Steve Wynn New Casino

The law does contemplate the possibility of a license transfer and provides guidance for how one might occur, but such a process would likely be complicated and perhaps lengthy, according to gambling regulators.

Steve Wynn's New Casino

As host communities for the casinos, Springfield and Everett would also likely have a say in any negotiations surrounding new licensees for the casino.

Steve Wynn New Casino Las Vegas

MGM’s Springfield casino, hotel, entertainment and shopping complex opened last August near the Connecticut state line and reported one million visitors in its first six weeks — generating more than $36 million in gambling revenues, translating to about $9 million in tax revenues for the state, which collects 25 percent of casino gambling revenues.

Steve Wynn New Casino

As of March, the state had collected about $42 million in taxes from the casino.