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Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Steve Wynn
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- Steve Wynn on the Las Vegas convention business and job market
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- Steve Wynn on Obama's remarks on Las Vegas
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Steve Wynn touched on more than just finances during Tuesday’s Wynn Resorts earnings call. The casino owner joined city officials in their criticism of President Obama’s remarks on corporations spending taxpayer dollars in Las Vegas.
“The president, in what amounted to a slip of the tongue, I imagine, said he doesn’t think the people who received benefits from the government should be going on junkets to expensive places or Las Vegas for wasteful spending … which stigmatized the convention business that could come to Las Vegas,” Wynn said.
Wynn said he’s sure the president didn’t mean to stigmatize all convention and meeting business in Las Vegas – just trips by those companies that receive federal funds. But it still has an effect on the Las Vegas economy, including his own resorts, he said.
Wynn said since the president made his remarks, a large corporation that didn’t receive taxpayer dollars pulled out of a $5 million convention at his resorts.
“It was a direct result of the comment made by the president,” Wynn said. “Whatever the president’s intentions were, it gives you an idea of how sensitive the public is.”
Wynn didn’t name the company that pulled out but he called the company “one of the healthiest in the country, much healthier than the government.”
Convention visitors to Las Vegas dropped 5 percent from 2007 to 2008, said Jeremy Handel, spokesman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
“In response to the bad economy and the misconceived press out there about the convention industry, we are developing a campaign in relation to that to express the importance of the meeting industry in Las Vegas and that Las Vegas is a place where business gets done,” Handel said.
Las Vegas hosted more than 22,000 meetings, conventions and trade shows last year, the LVCVA reported.
The president’s comments came after Wells Fargo & Co., which received a $25 billion federal bailout, canceled a conference at two high-end Las Vegas hotels in response to criticism from Congress after press reports of the company’s lavish trips.
After Obama’s comments, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. moved a three-day conference from Mandalay Bay to San Francisco, incurring a $600,000 cancellation penalty to skip town. Morgan Stanley, which has received $10 billion in bailout funds, canceled a trip for top employees to the Monte Carlo.
Wynn agreed that Congress needs to be critical of those spending federal bailout money but is afraid Obama’s remarks have characterized Las Vegas as a place of wasteful spending.
“We have hundreds of thousands of employees here, more than the auto industry. I hope that Uncle Sam recognizes that and that the rhetoric that is used is more considered in the future because it’s been demonstrated to us that it can have unintended consequences,” Wynn said.
Las Vegas is one of the most technologically advanced locations to hold meetings, and it’s a value compared to other cities, Wynn said.
Wynn said he’s created numerous jobs in the city with his Wynn Las Vegas and Encore resorts. He said the government can’t boast of the same accomplishment.
“I created 4,000 or 5,000 jobs here,” he said. “Does that make us a bad guy? How many new jobs did Uncle Sam create? Zero. “
Obama goofed.
He is very wet behind the ears.
All those years as a state senator did not prepare him enough.
Hopefully, he learned that it is politics 101 not to mention a name of a city-----full of voters----in a negative context.
His "stimulus" bill is not a goofed. It is the worst god awful bill ever.
I cant believe the rhetoric about Obama's comment about Las Vegas.
It is extremely simple. If you are a private company not taking taxpayer money, do as you will and answer to the shareholders.
If you are a "bailout" company and taking my tax money, please be prepared to answer to the American people about how you spend it. Vegas is a great place to have conventions/meetings - and one of the cheapest as well. If you are planning to have a major event in Vegas, then show how it makes sense for your business and is not a frivoulous junket.
Yeah, all these republicans think it's great to spend taxpayer money on sending bank employees to stay in expensive hotels.
It's kinda funny that the main story about this was a bank sending people on a taxpayer-funded junket who were going to be staying at the Wynn and Encore. Now Wynn's whining Obama held them accountable?
Jfnance32, the context about Las Vegas wasn't negative. The context about spending taxpayer money to send people on trips WAS negative. I guess you agree with that.
But then, context isn't very clear to you.
Steve, Steve, Steve
You got it all wrong...your gouging the convention visitors is bad for business.
Time to wake up.
I as a taxpayer am not going to fund conventions where the main objective is business to a city that has created the image of "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" Times have changed and Las Vegas had better change too if they want to survive. That is the reality and by the way, I love Las Vegas and visit as frequently as I can.
So people take Obama's words out of context and it's Obama's fault?? R U Kidding me?? I seriously doubt that it was a mere coincidence that Wells Fargo was gonna 'convention' and it just HAPPENED to be Super Bowl week-end as well? I honestly believe more people than not know EXACTLY what Obama's words REALLY meant, that being - don't use TAXPAYERS DOLLARS to whoop it up in Vegas (during Superbowl weekend) and expect ANYONE to believe it's a real business trip............ it's just that for whatever convoluted reason these same people want to pretend it's just about Obama telling EVERYONE not to come to Vegas. I don't care what Company chooses to party, oops I mean convention here - as long as they're not using one slim dime of my tax money to do it.
Wynn's just po'd cuz they were supposed to stay at HIS establishments - if they had been scheduled to stay elsewhere we wouldn't be hearing a peep out of Wynn.
He goofed.
He could made his point without using the words "Las Vegas" but he did.
He learned his lesson.
I doubt that he will do again.
His VP is another story.
Big Joe is trying to find the number to the Recovery .gov website. Has anybody yet given him the 411 on that?
Steve Wynn does not think Las Vegas is a place of
wasteful spending I bet the folks that have gambled
and have lost their money would disagree,and the folks that have woke up the next day realizing that they were robed after a night of so called partying at over priced nightclubs,and bars.when someone says lets go to Vegas,everyone knows what
that means (lets go blow some money to feel better about ourselves).President Obama speaks the truth,
and some times we can not handle the truth
Steve Wynn, see ya at the gun show bro!!!
There's some rightness to what steve is try to articulate but the comparison of wynn resorts to the government with respect to job creation is totally untrue and misleading. lets look at the strip for example. the big corporations have seized the front end and have control of the incoming cash-flow, the back end looks like Tijuana, and retail business are finished. They have fully "EXTERNALIZED" the local economy and as the bottom line profit margin goes up for the shareholders it gets sucked out of the surrounding community. where's the value? it's just wealth distribution without a gain anywhere to be seen. It's about time we go get us some pitchforks and get the job done.
"The corporate casino is like a sick animal that defecates next to it's food source."
"It's like a cage built to hold T-rex and now all we have is a pigeon to stuff in it."
blame bush -- incompetency leads to failure.
Hey Steve, how many jobs did Uncle Sam create with the Hoover Dam that basically built Vegas? Government can create jobs and when they do it is a good thing. The problem now is they really are not creating the jobs, money is just sloshing around.
Having said that of course private sector jobs are better for the overall health of the economy.
Steve has to get off his high horse and come up with specific ideas to push Washington. He has a microphone and would be listened to.
Bravo AngusKing!
Hey Steve-
Start counting the jobs:
Not just the Hoover Dam, but we have city, state, and federal courts here, Police/Fire services, on the state and local level...
But the BEST example to keep in mind, is that your casino means F**k-all, without those beautiful, noisy birds that 'nest' right here at Nellis AFB, to protect it. Most of the people IN those Government Jobs can't afford to STAY at your hotel- but they're working and dying to protect YOUR rich ass, as well as my poor one. How DID you get so rich, when you can't count?
We'd feel the impact of a Nellis closure, a lot harder, and longer than if your empire fell, Mr. Nero. But please, do fiddle away.
NOW Wynn is whining about conventions not coming to his overpriced hotels? That issue was over a year ago and it was regarding taxpayer bailed out corporations!
I doubt the convention planners who didn't book at his resorts recently were worried about anyone's college savings. Many corporations/companies simply don't have the money anymore, nor probably the upper echelon employees to ship everyone off to a fine resort to glad hand and have fun. Why send 5,000 employees to Vegas when one CEO (i.e. cough*Gary Loveman*cough) can bank the entire pot. Gees, Wynn the twit is a day late and a dollar short complaining about this.
What was that, Moogie?
He couldn't hear you, over the big Steel Industry convention at his Casino, this weekend.
Maybe he MEANT to say he was upset that more NASCAR fans don't stay there?
Why is he running his mouth now and not when the prez shot his mouth off...Kind of like a politician to get noticed when its already dead...And those jobs steveo created,, how much are they paying you to keep them...
Anyone besides me at the 9/11 artifact dedication at the Atomic Energy Museum yesterday? Mayor Oscar got a loud, applauding and cheering ovation. John Ensign got a loud applause. Berkley and Titus a fair applause and Harry Reid's representative got a few claps. Harry choose not to attend of course. Harry, Harry, in the words of Tip O'Neil "All politics is local". There were about 500 people at the dedication whose only common denominator was a disease to do homange and listen to a NYFD and NYPD folk who gave a demonstartion. I think the Dems are going to be out on their ear in November and for years to come.
No, I wasn't there. 9-11 is nearly 10 years in the past, Sherp. We can't change or fix any of it, no matter how many speeches are made-or how many people applaud.
Hopefully, Senator Reid has listened to the President, and is out there starting the health care bill over again. That's where I would like him to be, anyway.
Who knows- if they can actually get close to socializing it, that health care coverage might even save some of those regular citizens, who were caught in, or helped out at ground zero.
I think that is a better way for people with a real desire to pay homage to spend their time.