Jackpot

Casino mogul Steve Wynn is behind millions in donations, but manages to stay off of the Mother Jones 400

Image: AP/Wide World Photos

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


One morning last November, a small jet owned by casino mogul Steve Wynn lifted off from Washington, D.C., bound for Las Vegas and carrying a trio of Senate GOP leaders: Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). That evening they gathered for cocktails at Wynn’s Shadow Creek Country Club, listening to him brag about all the jobs being created by the gambling industry.

But Wynn, who runs Mirage Resorts, did much more than just talk at the gathering: He had brought together a group of about three dozen gambling executives whose companies gave $100,000 to the GOP over the weekend. And, in the months that followed, the gaming industry poured $1.2 million into GOP coffers. Wynn headed the pack with a well-timed $250,000 contribution from Mirage in March: It arrived just days after the introduction of a measure that would have ended tax deductions for gambling losses. Leaving nothing to chance, the industry lobbied Lott and McConnell, who pressed the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.), to pull the measure.

Tight relationships with prominent Senate leaders have made Wynn the gambling industry’s most powerful political player. And Mirage has certainly led the charge, donating nearly $1 million since 1991, including contributions from Wynn, company executives, their spouses, and the company’s PAC, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He often gives through Mirage, and so he stays off lists such as the Mother Jones 400. (Others, such as Sheldon Adelson [No. 74], Stanley Fulton [No. 108], and Arthur M. Goldberg [No. 168] aren’t as wise.)

Well known for his flashy style, perennial tan, and sleek coiffure, the 56-year-old Wynn demonstrates his political shrewdness by covering his bets with Democrats, too. In June, Mirage dropped a $200,000 check in the mail to the Democratic Party — just days after Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.), a longtime industry ally and an acquaintance of Wynn’s, was quoted in the National Journal questioning why so much money was going to the GOP, given growing criticism of gambling from prominent conservative Republicans such as Gary Bauer and presidential candidate Sen. John Ashcroft.

Such care and feeding of political leaders has paid off well: In 1996, when Congress and the Clinton administration created a National Gambling Impact Study Commission to probe the social and economic effects of gambling, Congress granted the commission only limited subpoena powers, and placed a number of strong industry allies on it. Still, the commission’s final report is due next June, and casino interests are nervous about how critical it will be and whether it will lead to calls for federal regulation.

That sets the stakes high for the gambling industry — and, in particular, Wynn. Anyone wondering why Wynn would want friends covering his bets need only read about his latest and greatest venture: the $1.6 billion Bellagio, a lavish Las Vegas casino that houses an art collection worth a reported $300 million, with paintings by Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Monet, some of which he reportedly hopes to sell for a tidy profit.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate