Settlement of a shareholder lawsuit against Wynn Resorts will be covered in large part by Steve Wynn himself, paying $20 million, with insurers chipping in $21 million. The suit accused the Wynn Resorts 
board of directors of complicity in Steve Wynn’s sexual misdeeds (which he insists were consensual, as if that makes a difference). As part of the settlement, no longer will one person hold the roles of chairman of the board—currently occupied by the admired Phil Satre—and CEO. Lead plaintiff in the lawsuit was New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, litigation that was rolled into suits by pension funds that also had their dander up about Wynn Resorts. In return for a big payday, the litigants absolved the Wynn Resorts board from blame for Sexgate.
* VIP players are giving Macao a wide berth these days, helping drive gambling revenues down 8.5% last month, to $2.8 billion. The trade war with Donald Trump, a slackening Chinese economy and seemingly endless unrest in Hong Kong were also blamed. Macanese casinos went from their strongest month in 2019 to the second-weakest, although in fairness stock analysts were expecting things to be much worse, as much as 13% down. Media scrutiny of junket operator Suncity has already put a damper on high-roller play, a situation likely to be exacerbated by a state visit from President Xi Jinping, always a wet blanket on casino revenues.
* You can’t take it with you. Casino winnings in Japan, that is. Not all of it anyway. The government is mulling withholding taxes
on the winnings of non-resident players. The inspiration seems to be similar revenue-recapture models in the U.S. and South Korea. According to the Japan Times, records of chip purchases and win-loss outcomes would be mandatory. They’ll be running a tight ship. The idea is to compute the value of chips versus money won and predicate the amount of tax upon that. Incidentally, Hokkaido‘s recent defection from the casino derby is being chalked up to citizen concerns about both problem gambling and environmental impact. Public support for Japanese casinos is not to be taken for granted.
