Influential Names in Gambling

Steve Wynn (part 1)

In this generation’s group of well known and successful gambling businessmen, Steve Wynn is one of the very first named that should come to mine. He is one of the top builders of casinos not only in Las Vegas, but all around the world.

Wynn did not make his name and reputation in the gambling casino development industry necessarily by being a cool cucumber either. Some people in the business love him, some no dot love him. Whatever your personal opinion is of this man, his abilities as a casino developer are almost second to none. If any of you online gambling article readers out there have logged out of your favorite online gambling casino to visit Las Vegas, Nevada in the past year or so, you have seen his latest Vegas Hotel the Wynn Las Vegas.

Even before this man took the helm at the Golden Nugget back in the late a1970s, he was a man on a mission. Proving he could turn a fledgling casino property into a successful one, the Golden Nugget quickly became one of the most popular casinos in Vegas (and the best in Downtown Vegas by far) in the late 1970s through the early 1980s. Even though the Nugget has witnesses a few comebacks in its time, Wynn made a permanent mark on this property that is still relevant today.

Born in 1942, Steve Wynn had gaming in his blood. His father operated bingo parlors in the northeast part of the US. Wynn was raised in Utica, New York. After he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1963, he did not take many years to get to Vegas and start his revolution on casino properties. Steve Wynn and his wife Elaine moved Las Vegas in 1967.

When he first arrived on the Vegas scene, he had a job as a keno and slot machine manager. Not long after that, he teamed with a banker by the name of E. Parry Thomas. Thomas acted as Wynn’s guru and all around mentor. He is partly responsible for the early molding of Steve Wynn as a major casino developer. Together, back in 1971, the two men nailed a land deal with Howard Hugh and Caesar's Palace. This was the defining transaction that catapulted him into a whole new way to business. That land deal was what gave Wynn enough financial backing and influence to pull off the dealings that made him the owner of the Golden Nugget. Within the next several years, the Nugget was pulling in 12 times the amount of profit it was before Wynn took over. The property still profits from many of the designs and upgrades he did those years ago on the property.

Vegas is a constantly changing environment, even some of the things he did to change this casino property those many years ago are still thriving on the property today. This is an extremely important fact for people to understand about this man – he thinks to the future while keeping classic style in mind.

Be sure to click here for the rest of this online gambling article on Steve Wynn, or you can also access the next section of this article (as well as many others) from our Influential Names in Gambling section.

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