Steve Wynn
Photo: americangaming.org
Stephen Alan Wynn was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1942 along with one younger brother. Wynn graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania in 1963. While studying he met and later married Elaine Pascal also in 1963 and had two daughters Kevyn and Gillian.
During the early 70’s Wynn used profits from a real estate transaction to buy a controlling interest in a downtown casino called the Golden Nugget. Wynn renovated, and expanded the Golden Nugget into a four diamond resort with great success in attracting upmarket clientele to downtown Las Vegas. He later built a Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City in 1980.
The Golden Nugget’s sale in 1987 for $440 million allowed Steve Wynn to focus on the design and development of his company’s flagship property, The Mirage, which opened in 1989. It set new standards for size and lavishness, with construction costs to match. The Mirage featured an indoor forest and an outdoor volcano, the Mirage was another great success.
Wynn’s company Mirage Resorts Inc. also developed casino/hotels in other locations around the United States including of a resort in Biloxi, Mississippi opened in March 1999. In 2000 the MGM purchased Mirage Resorts Inc to form MGM Mirage, and Wynn stepped down as Chairman.
Wynn is also chairman of the Moran Eye Institute at the University of Utah and a member of the Advisory Board at the canter for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, on the Board of the George Bush Presidential Library and most recently, was named Vice Chairman of the Kennedy Canter’s 2000 Corporate Fund Board. According to the Forbes 400 listing, Stephen Wynn became a billionaire in 2004, when his net worth doubled, to $1.3 billion.
