Steve Wynn makes his case; Gambling stalemate in Florida

It’s no longer enough for employees of Wynn Resorts to reflect well upon the company. No, now Steve Wynn wants their gratitude. His confidential pep rallies have had all the watertight integrity of a colander. By reminding workers that the company hadn’t laid any of them off during the Great Recession (although it did cut some of them to part-timers), Wynn not so subtly reminded them that he could fire all their asses at a moment’s whim. He referred to the company as a “family,” although he makes a very dysfunctional paterfamilias, feeling the need to say that Wynn Resorts (i.e., he) “always trusted, respected, and honored women.” And, as if all that mixture of reassurance and gloved threats didn’t do the trick, Wynn raised the prospect — but not the promise — of pay increases: “Just so long as that doesn’t bug any of you I’m happy, and I’m happy if you’re happy.”

Weirdly, Wynn chose to invoke serial groper Donald Trump as a character witness. Also, seemingly thinking he was addressing an audience of fellow billionaires, he said, “You guys are going to love” the new tax law. Meanwhile, Wall Street is having questions about Wynn’s ability to proceed with Wynn Paradise Park and Wynn West. The topic of conversation is even changing among analysts from whether Wynn can hold onto his eponymous company to who will buy it. Seeming frontrunners are MGM Resorts International and Las Vegas Sands but both have substantial “yes, but …” clauses. MGM’s can be boiled down to one word: debt. As for Sands, it’s thought the government of Macao would frown upon one concessionaire owning seven megaresorts. Which brings Caesars Entertainment — or its REIT, Vici Properties — into the picture. It would probably have to scare up $22 billion to engorge Wynn Resorts, which is worrisome in itself. Also, the thought of elegant Wynn properties falling into the hands of the K-Mart of gaming causes one to cringe somewhat. Genting Group has been tipped as an outside possibility, as has Galaxy Entertainment (though Galaxy might run into the same governmental objections as Sands).

Meanwhile, among Massachusetts‘ chattering classes, Steve Wynn is as welcome as a case of bubonic plague. Boston Globe columnist Adrian Walker called for Wynn’s ouster from his company. Hours later, the Globe editorial board weighed in with its own finding of ‘not suitable.’ Opined the Globe, “the gaming commission needs to determine who else in Wynn’s company knew about the $7.5 million [sexual assault] settlement and was involved in the decision to cover it up. If Wynn Resorts perpetuated a fraud on Massachusetts, the company, not just Wynn, flunks the suitability test.” The much-mentioned settlement is gradually leaking into the public domain and involves a paternity claim although, according to Bloomberg, “There’s no evidence Wynn fathered a child in the [sexual] encounter.” That sounds paradoxical but I’m sure we’ll be hearing more of the grisly details soon. Wynn himself paid the settlement but the company chose to sweep the matter under the rug in its dealings with Massachusetts, so both are in boiling water. As a hot-under-the-collar Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby said, “The people of Massachusetts have a right to know what the hell happened here.” Wynn Resorts would be well advised not to take this lightly.

* Florida politicians sense momentum behind a Disney/Seminole-backed ballot initiative to cut the Lege out of gambling policy, so there’s a Katie-bar-the-door urgency to corral gambling before this fall’s elections. As state Rep. José Oliva (R) put it, “If we want to have a say in what gaming is going to look like for the next several decades, now is the time to act.” Among the aspects in which the state House and Senate are leagues apart is “decoupling”: The removal of the requirement that race courses offer live events in order to host slot machines. A special prize for rhetorical overkill goes to state Rep. Jared Moskowitz (right), who called it a “Communist solution.” Among the other babies to be split is whether DFS constitutes online gambling, which the Seminole Tribe thinks it does and opposes as a breach of compact. Other sticking points are “player-designated” card games that resemble blackjack and slot-like “pre-reveal” machines (currently barred by court order). And that’s just scratching the surface of the two conflicting pieces of legislation. Speaker of the House Richard Corcoran (R) outlined the dilemma: “We would love to have a long-standing, 20, 30 year certainty of what gaming looks like for Florida. At the same time, we would like to see a contraction of gambling, given our make-up as a family-values state.” Then, getting to the nub, he said, “it’s still important that we do what we can to ensure that we don’t find ourselves in November with no authority and no revenue share.” No revenue share? That’s what we call the bottom line.

* No surprise, Las Vegas was chosen by WalletHub as the third-best city for Valentine’s Day (even less of a surprise, San Francisco was tops), just behind San Diego. The result is a tribute to Sin City’s diversification away from gambling. It was fourth in restaurants per capita, fifth in number of attraction and florists, seventh in jewelry store and 11th in greeting-card stores. And the worst places to take your honey on Valentine’s Day? Try Detroit, Newark and — last of all — Hialeah.

* We saw Molly’s Game last weekend an would rank it among the best films about gambling. However, Commerce Casino in California is done no favors by its depiction in the film (shot on Toronto soundstages), in which it looks like the waiting room for Purgatory. No wonder SoCal card rooms are so bent on improving their images and amenities. Oh, and could they have made the ice-skating double for Jessica Chastain more obvious?