Wynn gets final approval for Bellagio

Friday, Aug. 21, 1998 | 11 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Steve Wynn says he has "sweaty palms" worrying whether his $1.6 billion Bellagio hotel casino on the Las Vegas Strip will be a success.

Wynn, who received final approval from the state Gaming Commission Thursday, said he expects 100 percent occupancy for the rest of this year in the 3,000- room hotel to open Oct. 15.

But he added he was still frightened about the most expensive hotel built in Nevada. "If you're not scared about this, you're a dope," he told the commission.

He said he wanted to build the finest hotel in the world. "It's a place you can go to instead of Paris to shop and eat. There is uncompromising excellence. It's a question if the public will pay the price. The price is not discounted."

Bellagio President Bobby Baldwin said rates for a standard room will be $155 a night and will range up to $400 for a suite. He said the prices are 25 percent higher than the Mirage, also owned by Wynn.

After approval, Commission Chairman Bill Curran said the advent of the Bellagio "will be a watershed change for all of us," in offering the public higher class resorts.

Wynn stressed the Bellagio will draw more visitors to Las Vegas. "This will make the pie bigger and not the slices thinner."

The Bellagio may act as a "big vacuum" taking customers away from other hotel-casinos during its first few months, but those customers will probably return to the places they frequent, Wynn said after the meeting.

There won't be any dress code, but patrons of some of the restaurants will be required to wear coats, he said.

Wynn made no bones he thinks he has the "best hotel on any continent. People who never came to Nevada will go see it. It will redefine Las Vegas." He predicted competitors would upgrade their resorts.

There will be 9,500 employees, 2,600 slot machines and 139 table games. But Wynn stressed this project concentrated on a non-casino atmosphere. "This is not business as usual. This is not another Las Vegas hotel." It will feature a $95 million showroom, elite shops and world class chefs plus a botanical garden.

Wynn said his art gallery to display the masters "will add a dimension of excellence to the hotel."

He told the commission the 1997 law allowing tax break for the purchase of art does not affect him. He's a art broker-retailer and would not have to pay the tax.

"I've done $30 million in art sales in the last eight months," he said, adding that the art gallery was not a "tax haven" for him or the hotel. "We were dealers, and we didn't need it because the business was exempt," he said.

The state Tax Commission Wednesday adopted a regulation that viewing must be free in order to qualify for the exemption on personal property and sales. But after hearing more testimony from Wynn, the tax commission agreed to reconsider its decision on Oct. 5.

Wynn said the tax break legislation was to help museums in Nevada. And he said he was offended that the controversy has centered on money rather than on opening the door for art to be displayed in Nevada. "It's obnoxious to be focused on money," he said.

People who buy works in New York, the art capital of the world, will be able to ship them to Nevada and receive a tax break if they are put on public display, he said. They would escape the 8 percent sales tax in New York.

Baldwin said it's important to charge a fee at the Bellagio. The works will be displayed in a room that will hold about 60 people at one time. "If we don't charge a fee the line will run clear to Laughlin," he said.

Charging a fee will help move the people through the exhibit.