Steve Wynn’s Nevada

Steve Wynn’s Nevada

What better way to set off Nevada’s centennial birthday than with the opening of the world’s most highly anticipated resort. Steve Wynn is set to open the only hotel good enough to put his signature on, Wynn Las Vegas is set to open its doors on April 28th, Elaine Wynn’s birthday. Already fully booked through

July, you will need more than an American Express black card to get a room there before Fall. At a mere $2.6 billion and counting, the classy fifty story bronze beast is home to 2,700 rooms located across from the Fashion Show Mall. Each suite has floor to ceiling windows with views of either the strip, a man made mountain and lake or the championship golf course designed by world renowned Tom Fazio. Among two new exquisite themed theaters, dozens of restaurants, a Maserati and Ferarri dealership, high-end boutiques, a spa and a huge waterfall, it will also feature Steve and Elaine Wynn’s gallery of artwork from their own private collection. One of the new showrooms will hopefully be worth its $100 million price tag. It seats 2,000 and is shaped like a globe with water flowing all around the divided sections. Actors will be performing throughout the theatre within forty feet of every seat, which makes for no bad seat in the house.

It’s claim to fame will be what Wynn has been known for in the past, impeccable first class service. Since October of last year close to 110,000 applied on line for a chance to work with such a successful hotelier. So to his advantage he was able to pick and choose only the best, many from his soon to be competitors. Only 9,000 made the final cut. This will be his big comeback since leaving five years ago when he sold the Mirage Resorts to MGM Grand Inc. for $6.4 billion.

Plans for expanding the mega resort that has yet to open are well under way. A proposed $200 million expansion will add eighteen luxury golf villas, extra parking, another theatre and more casino space. Later as many as 1,400 more rooms will be added which is expected to cost another half a billion dollars by the time its done.

As a boy Wynn attended military school and would go on to attend one of the best business schools in the country, Wharton at University of Pennsylvania. This would set the foundation of all the success to come his way. Wynn got married and moved to Vegas in 1967. His first job in Vegas was at The Frontier Hotel as a keno slot manager. Within six months he would lose his job due to mob related illegal gambling and a buy out. Even though jobless he met the one person who was responsible for giving Wynn his first lucky break. Proving out of all things bad there’s always a little something good that comes out. This personal relationship would set the tone of what would mold Wynn into what he is today. E. Parry Thomas, a very wealthy banker, would invest in Wynn to resell a small strip of land to Caesars that Howard Hughes had previously owned and wouldn’t sell. This successful deal made Wynn his first million. From here out everything he would touch would turn to gold. He than acquired the Golden Nugget on Freemont St. only to turn its revenue around in less than a year from $1.1million to $4.2 million. After renovating this hotel it would soon be making close to $12 million a year thanks to Wynn. He than bought another dyeing hotel in Atlantic City, tore it down, and built another Golden Nugget. He spared no expense on this lavish resort, buying helicopters, limos, jets and an exclusive with Frank Sinatra, three years for $10 million.