Wynn presented MassGaming with a set of measures it intends to deploy to prove it has severed ties with its founder and is suitable to keep its casino license
Wynn Resorts plans to ban its founder and former boss Steve Wynn from all its properties as part of the company’s efforts to keep its gaming license in the Massachusetts gaming market, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.
The Las Vegas gaming and hospitality giant filed this past Monday a 49-page legal brief with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission that contained 13 measures the company plans to introduce in a bid to prove its suitability to operate the $2.6 billion Encore Boston Harbor. The property is slated to open doors on June 23 near Boston.
Following a three-day critical hearing last week during which Massachusetts gaming regulators heard Wynn executives, among others, on why the company should keep its license in the state, MassGaming is now assessing all the information it has collected to make a final decision.
An investigation into Wynn’s suitability to operate the luxury resort in the city of Everett near Boston commenced just days after the publication of a Wall Street Journal report outlining a decades-long pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Wynn. The embattled casino mogul faced multiple allegations from former and current employees at the company he co-founded in the early 2000s.
Banished
Wynn Resorts said that it would ban Mr. Wynn from all its properties, including its flagship resorts Wynn Las Vegas and Encore as well as the soon-to-be-opened Encore Boston Harbor. The casino mogul stepped down as CEO and Chairman of the casino company in February in the wake of the WSJ article.
Mr. Wynn was an instrumental figure in Wynn Resorts’ development and cementing as a leader in the global casino market. He was involved in many aspects of the company’s operations and was even the mastermind behind the iconic design of its properties.
In its 49-page brief, Wynn Resorts said that other measures it would take to prove its suitability to be one of the few companies authorized to conduct casino gambling in Massachusetts would include thorough review of any sexual harassment and assault reports filed; annual review of discrimination and harassment policies by an outside expert; harassment and discrimination training of all employees.
In addition, the company will make sure that its compliance committee is always composed of independent board members, that none of its executives and board members seek legal counsel that had previously represented Mr. Wynn, and that any civil case against the company is reported to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission within a ten-day period.
Wynn Resorts has had an eventful week as the company initiated and then called off talks over the potential acquisition of Australian casino operator Crown Resorts for $7.1 billion.
In addition, the company issued a statement earlier this week that its current CEO Matt Maddox was “found suitable as an officer of Wynn Resorts” by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. The Nevada regulator slapped a record $20 million fine on the casino operator earlier this year for failing to address properly the sexual harassment allegations leveled against its former boss.
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on the day’s top casino news stories.
