Casino mogul Steve Wynn has agreed to settle a longstanding dispute with Nevada’s gaming regulators for a sum of $10 million and a promise to never again associate with the state’s gaming industry, according to documents filed to the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) July 19.
The proposal will now proceed to the Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) for final approval, which could come in a matter of weeks. If approved, it would officially end a four-year battle surrounding a five-count sexual abuse and misconduct complaint filed by the NGCB against Wynn back in October 2019.
The complaint sought to deem the executive as unfit for licensure due to several sexual-related allegations brought forth over the years by female Wynn Resorts employees against the former CEO and chairman, all of which he has vehemently denied.
According to details of the settlement reported by the Nevada Independent, Wynn is now barred from working directly with a gaming licensee in the state but may still claim “passive” ownership of less than five percent of a licensed company.
The 81-year-old Wynn, who now lives in Florida, signed his end of the agreement July 17. His camp declined comment to the Independent.
Kirk Hendrick, chairman of the NGCB, also declined to comment until a final ruling is made by the NGC. Both Hendrick and fellow board member George Asssad signed the proposal, but the third member, Brittnie Watkins, was forced to recuse herself from the matter due to previous associations between Wynn Resorts and one of Watkins’ former law firms.
Throughout the course of the multi-year standoff between the two sides, Wynn maintained that gaming regulators ceased to have any jurisdiction over him once he resigned from his company, sold his holdings and relinquished his Nevada license in early 2018, following the publication of a daming expose from the Wall Street Journal detailing his troubled history with female employees.
In late 2019, Wynn filed a motion to dismiss the NGCB complaint, which was denied by the NGC. His attorneys then filed suit in Clark County District Court.
In November 2020, the district court ruled that Wynn was in fact free from state oversight following his resignation and license relinquishment, but that was soon appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court, which subsequently ruled in favor of the regulators in March of last year, saying that the NGC first needed to rule on the NGCB’s request.
Although Wynn himself has largely escaped unscathed from the ordeal other than the recent settlement, his former company has certainly paid a steep price.
In 2019, following the departure of Wynn, Wynn Resorts paid a total of $55 million in fines from regulators in both Nevada and Massachusetts, and the company’s board of directors and internal policies have undergone a massive overhaul in recent years.
