A paradox of the casino world, Steve Wynn – a gaming mogul who, some would say, could gain immeasurably from the online gambling boom of he played his cards correctly – is choosing to oppose this nascent industry’s growth and is standing beside one of the toughest opponents of online gambling in the world.
Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn are now in business.
“I end up agreeing with Sheldon,” Wynn admits in a new interview, referring to the two gambling titans’ mutual disdain for online and mobile gambling beyond the walls of physical casino properties.
Wynn was even more passionate than Adelson in describing how devastating it would be for the entire industry if a scandal were to occur, giving fodder to “the anti-gaming forces,” whom he said would rise up to attack the gamers.
“Do you really think they can stop underage gambling?” Wynn asked, rhetorically, his voice soaked in sarcasm.
Wynn also said he fretted about the effect on the culture of his eponymous company, which he prides himself as being a development pioneer that has produced beautiful properties here and elsewhere. “I know how to do that,” he said. “But I don’t know how to do that on a 17-inch screen.”
“I don’t want to make money off of it; Steve Wynn doesn’t want to make money off of it,” Adelson says.
“This is not a good entrepreneurial opportunity,” Wynn adds. “Where is the business opportunity? The big problem I see is I don’t see the government letting us keep the money.”
Despite Wynn’s pledge to fight, he doesn’t seem too concerned about waging war at the federal level.
“(Legalizing web gaming) can’t get through the House of Representatives,” Wynn asserts. “They can’t agree on anything, especially something this esoteric.”
Join the Conversation