News hit yesterday that Nevada was considering banning former Casino Mogul Steve Wynn from the Casino Industry, for life.
As I understand it, this is NOT the same as putting him in the notorious 'black book' but making it impossible for him to ever receive a gaming license again. He can walk into a Vegas Casino, he can just never own one, or be in management of one, again.
I'm OK with this. In fact, I would support doing this. Even IF things are as Mr. Wynn says and all of the sexual dalliances were "consensual" that doesn't take into account the boss/worker dynamic. Where a person with whom your future employment lies asks you to do something you don't want to do, even without the implicit threat that you'll be fired, the prospect is always hanging over you like the sword of Damocles. It's an impossible choice, a choice that's unfair to the salon attendants or the other workers that have come forward.
So yes, ban him for whatever years he has remaining.
Then let us all figure out just how we're going to address the issue of his Vegas legacy.
Because that legacy, as much as many want to deny it now, is real. The Mirage, Treasure Island and the Bellagio were all the result of the vision of Steve Wynn, as are the Wynn and the Encore now. And it can be argued that the Mirage is the most important casino on the Strip, immediately after the Flamingo. The Bellagio Fountains are the number one most important attraction on the Strip, and the most iconic.
Those are Steve Wynn's, like it or not. And his turning out to be a bad guy (shocker!) doesn't mean that we can wash that history away and pretend it doesn't exist. Especially in Las Vegas, where all-around bad guy Bugsy Siegel is worshiped as a visionary, given statues and has restaurants named after him.
Moe Dalitz was named "Man of the Year" by several organizations for Chrissakes.
So, yeah, Sin City is going to have to figure out how to honor the legacy of yet another allegedly "bad guy". They should be used to it by now. The problem is I don't think society is going to romanticize the sexually-assaulting/rapey CEO's in future times like they romanticized the leg-breaking/shoot-em-up/cold blooded killing mobster. Mario Puzo ain't likely to write "The Executive" like he did "The Godfather".
So this is the first time that Las Vegas is going to have to come to terms with its history being written and forged by someone who is going to remain viewed in a negative light by most of the people who visit. People say they yearn for the days "when the mob was in charge" of Vegas, I don't think we'll see such yearning for "when the sexual assaulters were in charge".
That legacy is still there however, still glowing on the strip, volcano erupting, fountains putting on a show, only the pirate show at TI is no longer active.
How do you tell that story separate from the recent events and remain true, but still not leave out the bad stuff? Las Vegas is going to have to figure that out.
Their track record for doing so is not, to be generous, all that stellar in this regard.
