Columnist Jeff German: Apparently, Wynn wins a round

Friday, June 4, 2004 | 11:26 a.m.

Jeff German's column appears Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in the Sun. Reach him at german@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4067.

So who won the latest round in the epic battle of casino titans at Wednesday's County Commission meeting?

At this point it appears to be Steve Wynn, who persuaded the commission to order his rival, Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson, to add some 2,000 more parking spaces before starting construction on a $1.6 million expansion project.

Adelson prefers to look at the commission's decision as a victory because it allows the project to proceed.

"I think (the commission) acted responsibly," the casino mogul said Thursday morning, hours after the commission addressed the parking concerns raised by Wynn and several of the Venetian's other Strip neighbors. "We got approval to move forward."

Just when the project will move forward, however, is up in the air now, which has caused Adelson to take out some frustration on Wynn, his chief nemesis.

Wynn had complained that Adelson was cutting too many corners, which, if not corrected, could cause Venetian customers and employees to take up valuable parking spaces at Wynn's $2.4 billion Wynn Las Vegas, which is set to open across the street in April.

Adelson called Wynn's campaign against him a "bunch of baloney."

"Steve Wynn wants to call the shots for everything that happens in Las Vegas," Adelson said. "He can't accept the fact that somebody is as good, or better an operator than he is."

But Wynn said Thursday that he didn't want to get trapped into turning this dispute into a battle of egos.

"This is an unfortunate ridiculous waste of time," he said. "In 35 years I've never opposed anything, and I'm embarrassed that my neighbor and I appear to be in conflict. It's the last position in the world I would want to be in."

Wynn, whose position is backed by the Venetian's other immediate neighbors -- the Mirage, Treasure Island and Harrah's -- said he has gone to great lengths to help Adelson with his expansion plans. He said he even has allowed him to use his architect and landscaper.

"All of us support his ambitions," Wynn said. "We only ask that he simply live by the rules and guidelines that have been established by law here in Clark County."

The County Commission Wednesday night bought into Wynn's argument following a three-hour hearing that gave the public a rare look at a high-stakes battle between two casino giants.

Neither Wynn nor Adelson, both prominent donors to high-profile Republican campaigns, participated in the public sparring, but they sent plenty of hired guns in their place.

Wynn's high-priced team of lawyers, anchored by Frank Schreck, a Democratic fund-raiser and all-around gaming "juice" guy, used a PowerPoint presentation to brand Adelson a renegade who has skirted his obligations to incorporate sufficient parking and landscaping into his expansion plans.

Adelson enlisted the 11th-hour support of former Democratic Sen. Richard Bryan, now a partner and high-powered lobbyist at the law firm of Lionel, Sawyer & Collins, to defend his plans. Bryan suggested that a deal between the parties fell apart last Friday after Wynn's group tried to back Team Adelson into a legal corner that would have given Wynn a competitive advantage over Adelson on that part of the Strip.

In the end, however, weary-eyed county commissioners decided that Adelson shouldn't be allowed to begin construction until he comes up with the extra parking spaces to avoid creating problems at neighboring resorts.

Was Wynn's apparent victory in this battle the end of the war with Adelson or was it Pyrrhic?

We'll see.