The Nevada Gaming Commission is joining the Nevada Gaming Control Board in the legal fight to have Steve Wynn formally banned from gaming in the state.
Industry news site CDC Gaming Reports said the five-member commission has voted unanimously to authorize the state Attorney General’s Office to appeal a state court ruling that dismisses the Control Board’s bid to have the disgraced former casino tycoon declared “unsuitable to be associated with a gaming enterprise or the gaming industry as a whole.”
The Control Board called for the appeal earlier this month after Clark County District Judge Adriana Escobar agreed with Wynn’s argument that his resignation as chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts, coupled with the sale of his stock in the company, removed him from regulatory jurisdiction.
The Control Board sought the declaration of unsuitability back in October 2019 at the conclusion of its investigation into allegations that for decades Wynn had preyed on the company’s female employees for sexual favors and that Wynn Resorts executives knew of his misconduct and ignored it or covered it up when the women complained.
The allegations came to light in a January 2018 Wall Street Journal story that included testimony from a number of former employees. Wynn denied any wrongdoing but resigned that February and sold off his financial interest in Wynn Resorts the following month. His departure signaled the resignations of several high-level executives and a purge of his close associates from the board of directors as the company rushed to save its license to develop a billion-dollar casino hotel near Boston which the scandal had placed in jeopardy.
The casino, with Wynn’s name removed, opened in June 2019, two months after the Massachusetts Gaming Commission slapped the company with a $35 million fine for being complicit in Wynn’s misconduct and for concealing it.
Nevada regulators fined the company $20 million on the same grounds. It was the largest such penalty in the state’s history.
The Gaming Control Board also went after Wynn personally with a complaint that raised the issue of jurisdiction when Wynn rejected a subpoena to testify as part of the board’s investigation.
The Gaming Commission sided with the Control Board in the dispute but permitted Wynn to seek a judicial review of its decision, which brought the case before Escobar.
At the time, an attorney for Wynn argued before the commission that its regulatory jurisdiction was moot because his client “has no control over Wynn Resorts as a matter of law, no financial interest, and he no longer exercises any control.”
