Billionaire Elaine Wynn Painted in Positive Light by Wall Street Journal

By John Isaac,
Editor at online-gambling.com

John Isaac Editor at online-gambling.com

John Isaac is an editor with many years of experience in the gambling industry. He writes expert articles on card games like blackjack and poker. In addition, he is also well aware of the US gambling laws and the Indian and Dutch gambling markets. You can rely on verified information and insightful details.

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Last updated: May 11, 2022

The Wall Street Journal featured billionaire Elaine Wynn a few days ago. The magazine was kinder to her this time around, unlike the January 2018 reports by media outlets on her former husband, Steve Wynn.

The WSJ first reported the damning sexual allegations against Wynn. The scandal was what eventually ended the career of the Las Vegas tycoon in the US gaming industry.

Some female workers of Wynn and Encore Las Vegas had accused Elaine Wynn’s former husband Steve Wynn of inappropriate sexual behavior. According to them, he has been sexually harassing them for years.

The disgraced casino mogul has repeatedly dismissed the sexual misconduct claims, saying they were all engineered by Elaine with whom he had a very long divorce process.

Elaine Wynn’s Response to the Allegations

Elaine recently told the WSJ that Wynn’s claim is far from the truth.

In her words, Elaine Wynn said, “I was really distraught by the behavior and the history that was unveiled.” She also categorically states that she knew nothing about the allegations of her former husband’s behavior toward his female employees until reports from the WSJ and other media outlets came out.

According to Forbes, Elaine’s fortune is estimated to be around $1.8 billion. Her wealth is largely due to her 8% stake in Wynn Resorts. This will surely increase due to WynnBet entering the New York Online sports betting scene in 2022.

Wynn Denies Cover up

Many observers scolded Elaine in the immediate aftermath of her former husband’s fall. Going by the allegations, she allegedly played a part in hiding information from state gaming regulators in Massachusetts. That was where Wynn Resorts was bidding on a license for a commercial casino.

Wynn Resorts eventually won the bid for the Boston casino opportunity, and Encore Boston Harbor was opened in June 2019. They paid a licensing fee of $85 million, but it was later revealed that Steve Wynn paid $7.5 million in hush money to a former Wynn Resorts manicurist. This came after Elaine reported to her superiors that Wynn raped her. She denied covering up the incident when the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) probed Wynn Resorts.

The Largest Individual Shareholder

Elaine was kicked out of the Wynn Resorts board in 2015. Her former husband was still the CEO of the company at that time. However, she became the largest individual shareholder after Wynn’s resignation and consequent divesting of all his stakes in the company.

The profile piece on the WSJ credits Elaine Wynn for using her ownership and power to shake up the governance of Wynn Resorts in the aftermath of Steve Wynn’s exit. The publication is much different from the 2018 WSJ piece on Wynn.

Steve and Elaine Wynn, who both are 80 years old, have quite a turbulent past together. The couple first married in 1963 and then the two got divorced in 1986. A few years later in 1991, the couple remarried, however, in 2010 they decided to split again. In 2011, Steve got married to his current spouse Andrea Hissom who is 28 years younger than him.