A court will ultimately decide if the Nevada Gaming Commission has the authority and jurisdiction to rule on the suitability of former casino executive Steve Wynn.
An attorney for Wynn said Thursday he will seek a judicial review after the gaming commission voted 5-0 to deny a motion filed that challenged the regulatory agency’s jurisdiction over Wynn since he is no longer associated with Wynn Resorts, the company he founded in 2002.
The Gaming Control Board filed a complaint in October that seeks to label Wynn “unsuitable to be associated with a gaming enterprise or the gaming industry as a whole.”
Las Vegas attorney Don Campbell, who represents Wynn, said Nevada gaming regulators no longer have oversight in regard to Wynn, who resigned as chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts in February 2018, a week after a Wall Street Journal article uncovered years of sexual misconduct and harassment allegations by Steve Wynn against employees. He has denied the allegations.
Steve Wynn’s attorney, Don Campbell, addresses the media/Photo by Howard Stutz
Campbell argued that Wynn resigned from the company, sold all his stock in the corporation, and moved out of a company-owned villa along the Wynn Las Vegas golf course.
“He has no control over Wynn Resorts as a matter of law, no financial interest and he no longer exercises any control,” Campbell said. “In less than 90 days, he ended all personal involvement and ended a nearly 50-year career in Nevada gaming.”
Campbell added that Wynn “has no intention (in Nevada) nor anywhere else in the world to re-enter gaming. None.” Steve Wynn did not appear at the hearing.
Campbell said he will appeal the Gaming Commission’s decision to the Clark County District Court in Las Vegas. Ultimately, he expects the Nevada Supreme Court to decide if the Gaming Commission has jurisdiction over a person who is no longer involved in the casino industry.
Gaming Commission Chairman Tony Alamo Jr. said at the outset of the hearing that regulators would not discuss the merits of the case, only whether or not Wynn is still subject the jurisdiction of the gaming regulators.
Following some 45 minutes of arguments by Wynn’s attorney and the Nevada Attorney General’s Office, which represents the Control Board, commissioners decided they didn’t want to give up their oversight.
Gaming Commission member Steven Cohen, a Las Vegas attorney, worried that allowing Wynn to simply “walk away” could lead to any “bad actor” escaping the purview of gaming regulators.
“The Gaming Control Board nor the Nevada Gaming Commission have done nothing to release Mr. Wynn from jurisdiction,” Cohen said. Commissioners ultimately decided the Legislature granted the regulators the power to look into alleged acts committed by both current and former gaming license holders.
Alamo encouraged Wynn attorneys and the Control Board to try and reach a settlement in the matter. Campbell said he had initial talks with the attorney general’s office but said any further discussions would admit the regulators have jurisdiction.
In its original complaint, the Control Board said it placed an “administrative hold” on Steve Wynn’s gaming license after he left the company. The complaint against Wynn came nine months after state gaming regulators fined Wynn Resorts $20 million to settle a 10-count complaint that detailed years of failure by former company executives to “report and/or investigate” numerous allegations of sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexual misconduct by Steve Wynn.
Campbell said in an interview after the hearing that Steve Wynn “does not have a gaming license. He was listed as a key employee on Wynn Resorts’ license.”
Campbell also questioned the term, “administrative hold,” saying that it is nowhere in Nevada gaming regulations.
“Mr. Wynn did not receive any such notice of the administrative hold,” Campbell said. “Is an administrative hold some sort of administrative zombie that comes back and haunts anyone?”
Steve Shevorski, chief litigation counsel for the Nevada Attorney General’s Office, argued that even if Steve Wynn “jettisoned his relationship with Wynn Resorts,” the Gaming Commission still has “absolute power in this matter.”
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgaming.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
