It’s still early in the apparent downfall of Steve Wynn but already there’s heated pressure being put on both Democrats and Republicans to disown his largesse. Rep. Karen Handel (R) was out in front, giving $2,700 Wynnbucks to “a charity in her district that helps 
victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and elder abuse,” according to her office. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R) was close behind, promising a $1,ooo donation would go to a nonprofit instead. And that’s just the beginning. (Donations from Mrs. Wynn, Andrea Hissom, are being kept.) For time time being, Nevada Sen. Dean Heller (R) is hiding his head in the sand — presumably hoping the matter will go away. Nursing a one-point lead over challenger Rep. Jacky Rosen (D), he is probably loath to unilaterally disarm. A senator Wynn hasn’t lavished cash upon, Susan Collins (R), stated “I don’t even think it’s a close call to return the money. They’re very serious allegations, and should be treated as such.”
Wynn was out on his ass as Republican National Committee finance chairman within hours of the Wall Street Journal‘s bombshell story, which exposed Wynn (in more senses than one) as a serial sexual predator. Wynn Resorts tried to reframe the narrative around the WSJ‘s reportorial tactics, emphasizing, according to the loyal Las Vegas Review-Journal, “current and former employees’s complaints that they have been repeatedly called at home and on their personal cellphones, and that reporters have come to their homes and the homes of family members and friends multiple times, even after the reporters have been told they don’t want to speak with them.”
It also clung to the beyond-laughable contention that Elaine Wynn orchestrated the WSJ‘s reporting, writing and publication of the story. Hell mayhap no fury like a woman 
scorned — but not that much. Meanwhile, on the business front, Union Gaming Group analyst Grant Govertsen reported investors deserting Wynn Macau stock in favor of Sands China and Galaxy Entertainment. On Wall Street, JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff noted a potential overhang for WYNN shares, citing Nevada and Massachusetts investigations, adding “such allegations can’t be helpful to WYNN in competitive integrated resort licenses/development globally (e.g., Japan) and/or in gaming license renewals (Macau, Nevada) … Given the quantum of allegations made in the WSJ article, but only handful that were referred to with specificity in the article, there could be additional new reports of similar allegations. This can’t be helpful for the stock.”
Greff then got to the crux of the issue: “A scenario where WYNN doesn’t have Steve as a CEO is not good for the company. We have always held the belief that WYNN possesses the single largest individual CEO dependency versus any of the other 30 gaming and lodging companies our coverage universe (well, maybe [Las Vegas Sands] with CEO Sheldon Adelson is tie with WYNN) … A WYNN without Steve likely sees some valuation multiple contraction, and obviously, some of this was factored into the stock price on Friday.” In plain English, WYNN without Wynn is ripe for the plucking.
Adds Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli, “if Mr. Wynn were to step down, something we aren’t about to speculate on, we do believe there would be an impact, over time, on the operations of the Company and we believe the design and development of future Company projects would lack the meticulous attention to detail the current portfolio is renowned for. On the latter point around development, we believe these project nuances have paved the way Mr. Wynn’s properties to consistently garner meaningful fair share performance in nearly every competitive market Mr. Wynn has entered.”
UltraViolet co-founder Nita Chaudhary would like nothing better than to see him go “Steve Wynn needs to go,” she said. “He is a predator of the worst kind who used his position of power to sexually coerce his female employees.” VitalVegas also weighed in on l’affaire Wynn with a particularly damning editorial that minced no words.
As for Trump’s ongoing relationship with Donald Trump, which goes through alternating phases of love and hate, a piece in The Atlantic reprises some of its ups and downs, depicting Wynn not as the John Galt he sees himself but as a weaselly sycophant to the president, whom he has not blushed to compare to Abraham Lincoln. And to think that, just a week ago, Wynn was riding high on the announcements of Wynn West and a Wynn Palace expansion. “What we are going to do across the street [at Wynn West] is going to go rather quickly because I have been giving it thought for a long time,” he told investors. Famous last words, anyone?
