Steve Wynn discusses Mirage development at Las Vegas event

Steve Wynn spoke at the Golden Nugget Las Vegas on Oct. 22 to a sold-out audience of 600 as part of the Neon Museum’s annual Duck Duck Shed celebration. The event, titled “Reflections of The Mirage: A Conversation with Steve Wynn,” saw the 84-year-old casino developer recount the development of the resort.

Wynn is now legally blind from retinitis pigmentosa. He controlled the Golden Nugget from 1973 until 1989, transforming the downtown property into one of Nevada’s premier casino resorts.

The Mirage opening

The Mirage carried a construction cost of $630 million, which generated skepticism at the time. The 3,044-room resort opened on Nov. 22, 1989.

According to Wynn, the property was immediately successful. “The place was profitable in the first 60 minutes it existed,” he told the audience. Wynn said 50 to 60 thousand people came to The Mirage on the first day.

During the development, Wynn paid $2 million for Grace Hayes’ small house and the adjacent parcel. Hayes died in 1989 at age 93, the same year The Mirage opened.

Regulatory settlement

Allegations of sexual misconduct against Wynn surfaced in a 2018 investigation by The Wall Street Journal. Wynn resigned as chairman and chief executive of Wynn Resorts in February 2018 and has consistently denied allegations that he harassed or assaulted women. He was never criminally charged.

Nevada gaming regulators fined Wynn Resorts $20 million in 2019 for failures related to the company’s handling of misconduct complaints. Wynn’s settlement with regulators bars him from involvement in Nevada’s gaming industry, though it does not prohibit public appearances or entry into casinos.