Macau, China (AP) -- Billionaire casino developer Steve Wynn criticized former Chinese leader Mao Zedong on Monday, telling more than a thousand investment advisers at a conference that the communist revolutionary's "imbecilic" Cultural Revolution "almost ruined" the country. The chief executive of Wynn Resorts, which operates a casino-resort in the Chinese special administrative region of Macau, spoke during a question-and-answer session at the Charles Schwab IMPACT 2007 conference.
What a difference a diamond makes. Casting its eyes jealously up and down the Strip for years, the Venetian has longed to join the highest tier of luxury hotels by winning top honors from AAA and the Mobil Travel Guide. The competition grew more serious a year ago after the two-year-old Wynn Las Vegas next door won its first AAA Five Diamond. Wynn and the Venetian are engaged in a rivalry for the same customers, from high rollers to spa aficionados.
Casino dealers, frustrated that Nevada lawmakers wouldn't help them reverse Steve Wynn's controversial tip-sharing policy, are preparing to take their case to the voters. A group of Wynn Las Vegas dealers, working outside of their new labor union, says it will begin circulating petitions next year to qualify a voter initiative aimed at prohibiting a company from forcing rank-and-file dealers to share tips with supervisors.
Interest in the growing Macau casino market fueled investors’ actions regarding shares of two gaming operators during August. Las Vegas Sands opened the USD 2.4 billion Venetian Macau last week, and Wynn Resorts reported better-than-expected earnings in early August. Both companies recorded double-digit increases in their average daily share prices during the month. The stock prices of other companies weren’t so lucky.
Wynn Resorts and Aruze Corp. will promote the potential of casinos in Japan at a seminar to be hel next September 11, as the companies seek to open the gambling market of the world’s second-biggest economy. Ronald Kramer, President of the Las Vegas-based casino company founded by billionaire Steve Wynn, will speak at the Tokyo seminar with Aruze CEO Kunihiko Yogo, according to a statement faxed from Tokyo-based Aruze to Bloomberg News.
Stanley Ho (Founder and managing director SJM): The elusive billionaire had a 40-year monopoly on Macao gambling and remains one of the world's biggest casino operators, despite inroads by American companies, such as Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd., that have cut his market share nearly in half. Ho is countering with more elaborate casinos, including the Grand Lisboa, which debuted in February, and two outsized casino projects, Oceanus and Ponte 16.
(Bloomberg) -- Steve Wynn turned to Kazuo Okada when the gambling magnate needed cash to fund his namesake Las Vegas casino in 2000. Now, Okada could be the ace up Wynn's sleeve in the Japanese businessman's home market. The pair want to submit a bid to operate Japanese casinos once the government opens the market, Aruze Corp. Chairman Okada said in an Aug. 2 interview.
Cynthia Fields looks younger than her 39 years and has 15 years of experience as a highly rated dealer and casino manager at upscale casinos. But Fields has discovered what many in the casino business have learned after they've been fired from their jobs: It can be tough to get back into the game. The story about how Fields was dismissed from her dealer job at Wynn Las Vegas in early January is legend in casinos in Las Vegas.
New York (Reuters) - Wynn Resorts Ltd. said on Thursday it plans to slow expansion at its Macau casino amid increasing competition and slowing travel to the Chinese gambling haven. Wynn also said its board of directors approved a program that will allow it to buy back up to USD 1.2 billion in stocks and convertible bonds.
One day after a vast majority of its casino dealing force cast ballots in favor of union representation, Wynn Las Vegas executives seemed resigned to negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with the New York-based labor organization that will speak for the workers. The National Labor Relations Board has until next week to certify the results of the weekend election at Wynn Las Vegas, where dealers, in a vote of 444-149, asked to be represented by the Transport Workers Union of America.
Las Vegas - Days after billionaire casino magnate Steve Wynn told dealers he made "a big mistake" in allowing supervisors to share in their tips, full-time dealers at the Wynn Las Vegas resort voted overwhelming to join a union. The dealers voted 444-149 in favor of being represented by the Transportation Workers Union of America in an election this weekend that was sanctioned by the National Labor Relations Board, organizer Dennis Laux said Sunday.
Las Vegas - Stephen A. Wynn, the hotel and gambling impresario, still remembers the first time he was asked if he and other developers had lost their minds building so many casino hotels here. It was the mid-1970s, when Las Vegas had about 35,000 rooms. He was asked that same question in the 1980s, while building the 3,000-room Mirage, and again in the early 1990s. By that time Las Vegas was home to more hotel rooms — 106,000 — than any other city in the country.
