Steve Wynn

Steve Wynn is often credited with changing the image of the Las Vegas Strip from one of decrepit hotels and dusty desert into one of sparkle, glamour and excitement.  Wynn was among the first to create free attractions on Las Vegas Boulevard itself to draw in new customers.  From the Dancing Waters at Bellagio to the volcano at the Mirage, Steve Wynn has captured the imaginations of both the city and the entire world.

If anyone can be said as having “gambling in their blood”, it would be Steve Wynn.  His father ran several bingo halls along the US East Coast during the 1940s and 1950s.  When the senior Wynn died in 1963, he had allegedly compiled over US$350,000 in gambling debts.  After Steve graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, he took over the family business.

With the money he made from the bingo parlors, Wynn bought a share of the Frontier Casino in Las Vegas.  The success of the Frontier, along with his other business ventures, allowed him to buy a majority stake in the Golden Nugget, one of the landmark casinos in Downtown Las Vegas.  He spent several million dollars to transform the Nugget into a hotel/resort modeled after those on the Strip in an effort to bring the crowds downtown.

Wynn continued on the theme of creating luxury casino resorts when he opened The Mirage in 1989 and Treasure Island in 1993.  Each one featured sidewalk shows and special stunts to entice new players.  The volcano outside The Mirage erupts every hour each evening, giving the tourists along the Strip a spectacular free show.  Treasure Island (now TI) features a live pirate show in an artificial lake within a few yards of busy Strip traffic.

Wynn would not stop there; his greatest creation, the Bellagio, opened in 1998.  At a cost of US$1.6 billion, it was the most expensive hotel ever built at that time.  The site features a botanical garden, an art museum and the “Dancing Waters” fountains that have become a Las Vegas landmark.  His Wynn Las Vegas surpassed that record by more than US$1 billion when it opened in 2005.  With last year’s opening of the Encore towers next door to his namesake hotel, Steve Wynn does not show any signs of slowing down.