Sunday, December 29, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

GAMING CHIPS: Wynn gathering his dream team

Wynn Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn is confident that staffing the $2 billion Le Reve megaresort will be easier than the decisions he had to make at Bellagio before it opened in 1998, the Strip developer said recently.

"At Mirage (Resorts, Wynn's former company), we had thousands of people who wanted to work at Bellagio, but only so many shifts," Wynn said. "We had to have a lottery to determine which workers at The Mirage, at Treasure Island could come to Bellagio."

At Le Reve, the process will be simpler.

Because Wynn no longer operates a casino, Le Reve bosses can cherry pick the best workers in the city without hurting other company operations and stirring employee resentment.

Ace human resources guru Arte Nathan, who ran Wynn's HR shop at Mirage Resorts, is moving the Wynn Resorts staffing operation to the Desert Inn villas, where he'll begin a process that Wynn expects will land the industry's top work force when an estimated 8,000 workers welcome visitors to Le Reve's planned April 2005 opening.

"We've always emphasized people," he said. "And Arte is a magician. We'll get the best."

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TRIVIA TIME: What Las Vegas hotel and separately owned golf course used to have the spots now occupied by the MGM Grand, its conference center and its dormant amusement park?

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TABLE DRAIN: Nevada slot machines have won 0.03 percent more during the 12 months ended Oct. 31 than they garnered during the previous 12 months, but the big four table games have all recorded year-over-year drops, according to the most recent Nevada Gaming Control Board statistics.

High rolling baccarat games experienced the biggest percentage drop in money won from gamblers, down 21.4 percent to $401.8 million. Craps was down 7.5 percent, to $426 million, roulette fell 5.8 percent to $261.2 million and blackjack dropped 4.5 percent to $1.1 billion.

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FAST FACTS: There were 66,569 quarter slot machines in Nevada's 340 casinos in October. That compares with 55,467 nickel, 28,244 dollar and 21,080 multidenomination devices. The state has 3,637 $100-denomination machines and 17,621 devices with $5 units.

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TRIVIA ANSWER: Kirk Kerkorian bought the Marina hotel-casino and the Tropicana golf course to create enough room for the 1993 opening of the MGM Grand, the world's biggest megaresort with more than 5,000 hotel rooms.

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QUOTABLE: "Bill Bennett was one of the Strip's top profit-producers, for almost a 20-year stretch. He cut costs everywhere, but he understood his market: Middle-class Americans. The regular guy can afford Las Vegas because of guys like Bill Bennett."-- Casino industry expert and University of Nevada, Las Vegas professor Bill Thompson after Bennett died Dec. 22.

Gaming Wire staff compiles Gaming Chips.