Shakespeare first said it. Now the Attorney General of Massachusetts is telling Wynn Resorts to forget it.
Forget keeping former company chairman and CEO Steve Wynn’s name on the side of the sparkling $2.4 billion casino-resort now under construction just outside Boston due to an ongoing sexual harassment scandal that has roared through the gaming industry.
The Wall Street Journal in January reported former Wynn casino employees who accused him of sexual harassment and coercion, charges he vehemently denied. He blamed his former wife, Elaine Wynn, for his troubles even as the first details of a secretive $7.5 million settlement between the casino mogul and a Wynn Resorts manicurist came to light. (Elaine Wynn has denied any connection to the newspaper article.)
Wynn not only lost his status as financial chairman of the Republican National Committee and had his name removed from places of honor at universities, but in short order announced his resignation as chairman of a company he co-founded with Japanese billionaire gaming machine manufacturer Kazuo Okada.
And then the real trouble began. Multiple stockholder lawsuits have been filed that accuse Wynn’s hand-picked board of directors as being nothing more than overpaid lackeys for the boss. Now many reputations and legacies are on the line.
Those former Wynn Resorts employees interviewed by The Wall Street Journal? Two of them filed sexual harassment lawsuits alleging Wynn forced them into performing sex acts. And two other women filed police reports alleging Wynn forced them into sex decades ago.
Nevada’s Gaming Control Board as well as casino regulatory authorities in Macau and Massachusetts announced investigations into the allegations. Privileged licenses worth billions hang in the balanced.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that that the person in charge of keeping up legal and regulatory appearances in Massachusetts, state Attorney General Maura Healey, isn’t keen on seeing Wynn’s scandalized name on the big casino in Greater Boston.
And Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker thinks the state’s gaming regulators should encourage Wynn Resorts executives officially no longer under Steve Wynn’s influence not to use the co-founder’s name in the signage. Since Wynn’s signature and image as a legendary casino man have been the biggest part of the company’s image, it would take more than the illusionists Siegfried & Roy in their prime to make it all disappear.
Due to open in 2019, it’s still to be called Wynn Boston Harbor. I’m betting that will change, and if it does the loud-and-proud daily Boston Herald will probably take credit for it.
The Herald took a statement from Healy, the state’s top law enforcement officer. It’s still echoing through the casino crowd.
“It’s clear to me, if what’s being alleged is true,” Healy said in a statement, “that the casino cannot bear Wynn’s name.”
That sounds bad. But then Healey took an even sharper aim: “I’m not convinced the company should have a license at all.”
The two statements speak volumes about the precarious position the controversy has placed the company. Contrary to a breathless Securities and Exchange Commission filing that dropped in the immediate wake of the WSJ story that basically called Wynn an irreplaceable part of the company, and its marketing imagery, Wynn Resorts can survive without the co-founder. Its properties, thanks to Wynn, are arguably the best in the industry. The Macau market is surging once more, and Las Vegas is showing signs of recovery after the October 1 mass shooting.
Baker was only slightly more measured.
The governor told the Herald, “I certainly think that’s one of the things that should be on the table. Obviously, the allegations from the beginning, all of them, have been horrifying and incredibly disturbing.”
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission, with its own credibility on the line, continues to receive inquiries about its course of action with the company. It’s also receiving cues from the attorney general and governor.
The decision in Massachusetts will have a dramatic impact not just on Steve Wynn’s legacy, but also on Nevada’s reputation for gaming regulation.
This time, more than one name is at stake.
John L. Smith is a longtime Las Vegas journalist. Contact him at jlnevadasmith@gmail.com. On Twitter: @jlnevadasmith.
