Is deposed casino magnate Steve Wynn still subject to the authority of Nevada gaming regulators? The question has enough at stake—for both sides—that it will wind up before the Nevada Supreme Court.
The state Gaming Control Board has petitioned gaming commissioners to have Wynn formally declared “unsuitable to be associated with a gaming enterprise or the gaming industry as a whole” on the basis of widespread accusations that for years he preyed on female employees of Wynn Resorts for sexual favors. The declaration effectively would bar Wynn from ever obtaining a casino license in Nevada, and probably nowhere else in the United States.
Last month, the commission, the final word on regulation in the state, held a hearing on that petition and voted 5-0 to approve it.
Commissioner Steven Cohen, a Las Vegas attorney, said allowing Wynn to simply “walk away” could lead to any “bad actor” escaping the purview of gaming regulators.
For nearly half a century, Wynn reigned over Nevada’s largest industry, and much of its politics as well. He refuses to acknowledge the state’s authority to make the declaration, with all that it implies, in what has shaped up a final tussle over power.
Wynn resigned as chairman and CEO of the publicly traded company he founded shortly after the accusations were first uncovered in a 2018 report in the Wall Street Journal. He denied the charges and is suing some of the individuals who made them, but a Control Board investigation that concluded last fall found enough merit in them to fine Wynn Resorts a record $20 million for failing to act on years of complaints from the billionaire’s reputed victims. The company later agreed to a $41 million settlement with shareholders, $20 million of which was paid by Wynn.
By that point, he had already sold off his sizable financial interest in the company and had surrendered his gaming license as part of the divestiture. He claims this ended the state’s regulatory jurisdiction over him, and he did not comply with a subpoena to appear before the board during its investigation.
Attorney Don Campbell, who represented Wynn at the commission hearing, said his client “does not have a gaming license” and told CDC Gaming Reports Wynn “has no intention (in Nevada) nor anywhere else in the world to re-enter gaming. None.”
The Gaming Control Board, however, claims the state’s authority over him still prevails, and his license still exists under what it terms an “administrative hold” placed on its surrender.
“The Gaming Control Board nor the Nevada Gaming Commission have done nothing to release Mr. Wynn from jurisdiction,” Cohen said.
At the commission hearing, Steve Shevorski, chief litigation counsel for the Nevada Attorney General’s Office, argued on behalf of the Gaming Control Board that the commission still has “absolute power in this matter.”
Campbell said his next move will be an appeal in Clark County’s District Court, and will go to the Supreme Court if necessary.
