Elaine Wynn Wall Street Journal Exposé Paints Billionaire in Positive Light

Posted on: May 2, 2022, 09:56h. 

Last updated on: May 2, 2022, 12:08h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Elaine Wynn was featured in a profile published over the weekend in The Wall Street Journal. The exposé was much kinder to Wynn than the media outlet’s January 2018 report on her former husband, Steve Wynn.

Elaine Wynn Resorts casino Steve Wynn gambling
Elaine Wynn poses for a photograph for The Wall Street Journal in 2022. The billionaire recently received positive press from the media outlet, something her former husband certainly did not in early 2018. (Image: The Wall Street Journal)

The WSJ was first to report on the damming sexual allegations against Steve Wynn that essentially ended the Las Vegas tycoon’s career in the US gaming industry.

Wynn has denied the numerous allegations brought against him by former Wynn and Encore Las Vegas female workers. They accused the billionaire of acting inappropriately and forcing himself sexually on them over a span that endured many years.

Wynn has repeatedly said the sexual misconduct claims were the work of his former wife, Elaine. The disgraced casino mogul asserts that Elaine orchestrated a personality hit job amid their lengthy and combative divorce proceeding. Elaine told the WSJ recently that is far from the truth.

I was really distraught by the behavior and the history that was unveiled,” Elaine Wynn told the WSJ.

She also maintains that she was unaware of the allegations prior to the WSJ and other media reports on her former husband’s behavior with female subordinates.

Forbes estimates Elaine Wynn’s fortune to be around $1.8 billion. That wealth is largely because of her 8% stake in Wynn Resorts.

Wynn Denies Coverup

In the immediate aftermath of Steve Wynn’s fall, some observers scolded Elaine Wynn. She was accused of allegedly participating in keeping certain information from state gaming regulators in Massachusetts. That’s where Wynn Resorts, in 2013, was bidding on a commercial casino license for a Boston development.

Wynn Resorts was eventually selected as the winning bidder for the Boston casino opportunity. Encore Boston Harbor opened in June of 2019 at a cost of $2.6 billion.

The company paid an $85 million licensing fee after the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) determined that Steve Wynn is “highly ethical” and “a perfectionist who is passionate about everything he does.” But after the WSJ’s 2018 report, it became publicly known that Steve Wynn had paid a former Wynn Resorts manicurist $7.5 million in hush money. That’s after she reported to her superiors that Wynn had raped her.

Elaine Wynn denies covering up that incident when Wynn Resorts was being probed by the MGC to determine the company’s suitability to receive one of the state’s full-scale Category 1 resort-casino licenses.   

“People will always say, ‘How could she not have known?'” Wynn said. “I don’t know how many other victims confess to the wives.”

Elaine added that she was in a precarious position as one of the alleged victims’ “employer-slash-mentor-slash, you know, mom.”

Largest Individual Shareholder

Elaine Wynn was booted from the Wynn Resorts board in 2015 when her former husband was still the chair and CEO of the organization. But after his resignation and subsequent divesting of his entire stake in the casino company, Elaine became its largest individual shareholder.

The WSJ profile piece credits Elaine Wynn for using her power and ownership to greatly shake up Wynn Resorts’ governance in wake of Steve Wynn’s exit.

The cofounder of Wynn Resorts won over the board — and rehabilitated the brand –after her ex-husband departed in ignominy. Now she’s working to share her wealth and her hard-won wisdom,” WSJ journalist Christina Binkley summarized.

It’s a stark contrast from the WSJ’s 2018 piece on Steve Wynn. That report came with the subhead, “Wynn Resorts employees and others described a CEO who sexualized his workplace and pressured workers to perform sex acts.”