Testimony details Wynn’s interest in casino numbers

Tuesday, March 27, 2001 | 10:38 a.m.

Steve Wynn was well-known for the tight grip he maintained on Mirage Resorts Inc. of Las Vegas while serving as its chairman.

Last week, several employees testified that this control extended even to day-to-day casino operations, with Wynn placing as many as three calls a day to check on the activities of Mirage casino high-rollers.

The Mirage employees were testifying in New Jersey in the fraud and money laundering trial of former penny-stock promoter Robert Brennan. Brennan is accused of hiding assets while under bankruptcy protection in 1995, including more than $500,000 in casino chips from the Mirage.

During testimony Thursday, Mirage casino shift manager Charles Seaman testified that Wynn would call him every eight hours to find out how the casino's high rollers were doing. "He'd want to know, if you were losing, who beat you," the Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., quoted Seaman as saying.

Wynn couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

MGM MIRAGE spokesman Alan Feldman, who served as spokesman of Mirage Resorts under Wynn, confirmed that Wynn placed regular calls to check on the activities of high-end players.

"I can't say it was every eight hours, that sounds a little unlikely," Feldman said. "I had the sense that he did it at least once a day. I took it to be part of his job ... he wanted to know what was going on, who was in, how they were doing. It's not like he took that information and did something with it."

The Mirage employees' testimony is intended to rebut Brennan's alibi that he had won the chips during a single 1995 visit to the Mirage. The government claims he hoarded the chips over several years. The employees testified Brennan gambled as much as $18,000 a roll at the craps table during his visit, and lost nearly $50,000 during the visit, made three weeks after Brennan filed for bankruptcy.

"I would definitely know about it" if Brennan had won $500,000 during the visit," the Star-Ledger quoted Seaman as saying.

Brennan controlled International Thoroughbred Breeders, a company that formerly owned the El Rancho hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip. That company had announced plans in 1996 to develop a $1 billion casino at the site, but those plans fell through. ITB eventually sold the El Rancho to Turnberry Associates last year. Turnberry demolished the dilapidated casino several months later, and plans to build a London-themed megaresort at the site.