Nevada Gaming Commission Fines Wynn Resorts $20M

LAS VEGAS—Wynn Resorts Ltd. has been fined a record $20 million by the Nevada Gaming Commission for failure to investigate claims of sexual misconduct made—by at least eight women—against former CEO Steve Wynn before he resigned a year ago, according to the Associated Press.

The penalty against Wynn Resorts Ltd. concludes an investigation that began after The Wall Street Journal reported that several women said the company founder harassed or assaulted them. Regulators won’t seek to revoke or limit its gaming license.

In the past year, the company has taken several actions to move forward including distancing itself from Steve Wynn after his resignation and divestment; reconstructing its board of directors to be composed of 50% women; and adding three female executives. Marilyn Spiegel has returned as president of Wynn Las Vegas.

Wynn Resorts issued the following statement in response to the Nevada Gaming Commission’s final resolution of the investigation: “We are pleased that the Nevada Gaming Commission has recognized the company’s transformation and ‘refreshed culture’ over the course of the last 12 months and acknowledged the ‘paradigm shift’ that has occurred within the company. The completion of the review by Nevada regulators is an important step forward, and we deeply appreciate the trust and confidence they have placed in the new leadership of Wynn Resorts to ‘grow and prosper.'”

Under the leadership of CEO Matt Maddox, Wynn Resorts has taken the following steps to further transform its workplace environment:

  • Launched enhanced workplace compliance and prevention of sexual harassment training for all employees, designed and delivered by a third-party expert.
  • Launched a Women’s Leadership Council to promote equality within the workplace. The group’s first activity was to produce a speaker series, “Women Who Thrive,” to educate and inspire employees through powerful female role models.
  • Commissioned pay and promotion equity studies to measure pay equality among men and women in the workforce.
  • Launched a new paid parental leave program that provides six weeks of paid time off to new parents.
  • Implemented new diversity, inclusion and unconscious bias training for all employees taught by third-party experts. Company senior executives completed an eight-hour training program.
  • Launched the Great Place to Work survey and focus groups, which measure employee engagement against the Fortune “100 Best Companies to Work For.”
  • Launched a new annual Wynn Employee Foundation scholarship program, which has awarded 10 $7,500 college scholarships to employees and their dependents.

Since the transformation of Wynn Resorts began in February 2018, the company has achieved the following:

  • Coordinated the sale of all of Steve Wynn’s stock in the company, including eight million shares to two long-term institutional investors.
  • Settled six years of litigation with Universal Entertainment for $2.4 billion, an effective redemption price of $78 per company share.
  • Raised $927 million through the sale of 5.3 million shares in Wynn Resorts to Galaxy Entertainment Group, Macau.
  • Resolved the litigation filed in 2012 by former board member Elaine Wynn, thereby finally resolving all claims in that litigation with no payment by Wynn Resorts.
  • Recognized by the U.S. Department of Treasury for “substantial contributions” to investigations as part of the annual FinCEN Director’s Law Enforcement Awards Program.