Without Steve Wynn, Casino Empire Risks Losing More Than a Name<br />Billy Vassiliadis, chief executive of R & R Partners, the firm<br />that markets Las Vegas for the city’s Convention and Visitors Authority, said Mr. Wynn was “an idea generator.”<br />“None of us in this world are irreplaceable,’’ Mr. Vassiliadis said.<br />But on Wednesday afternoon, members of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission said it would not halt its investigation of Mr. Wynn and his company, noting<br />that he continued to hold stock and could exert influence over the company and its brand.<br />“But that kind of raw imagination is pretty rare.”<br />Frank Fahrenkopf, a former Republican National Committee chairman who founded the American Gaming Association<br />and is a close friend of Mr. Wynn’s, said he had not talked to Mr. Wynn about the decision.<br />As such, we do not believe the company can grow at the same trajectory nor can it maintain its cutting edge position.”<br />Mr. Wynn’s hold on his company had been tenuous ever since The Wall Street Journal published an in-depth investigation last month revealing<br />that he had been accused of harassing female employees for decades, including allegations that he exposed himself and pressured some women to have sex.<br />With pressure mounting on his lucrative business operations, including a half-finished $2.4 billion casino resort near Boston,<br />and with shareholder lawsuits and various investigations clouding his future, Mr. Wynn said he was stepping down because of “an avalanche of negative publicity.”<br />“Elvis has left the building,’’ the global investment firm Jefferies wrote in a note on Wednesday.
