The news of Steve Wynn’s resignation from the company he founded, Wynn Resorts, has brought more questions than answers in Las Vegas. Most of those questions won’t be answered for some time, if ever. Right now, many people are wondering where Wynn’s apparent departure from an active leadership role leaves his company, Las Vegas and the hospitality business. I can’t answer those questions, but I can offer a few words about what Steve Wynn has accomplished in and for the casino industry.
Wynn began in Las Vegas as a small shareholder of the Frontier in 1967. He’d been out the year before for the opening of Jay Sarno’s Caesars Palace. His imagination fired by the possibilities that Las Vegas offered, a move with his family to the desert town seemed like a natural step.
But Wynn was not to remain long at the Frontier. In this process of its acquisition by Howard Hughes (which led to Wynn’s exit), he was befriended by banker Parry Thomas, an unsung legend of Las Vegas casino history. Thomas provided not only the financing for many casinos and other ventures, but also the civic spirit and financial support that helped to create the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The institution has shown its gratitude by naming its most famous building, the Thomas & Mack Center, after Thomas and his partner Jerry Mack.
