Steve Wynn: Indian gaming won't replace Las Vegas

Steve Wynn said Wednesday that even though Indian gambling is the biggest threat Nevada gaming has faced, he doesn't see Las Vegas being replaced.

He made the comments before the Gaming Control Board which Wednesday recommended granting Wynn a gaming license to buy and operate the Desert Inn. He has been before the board many times before, beginning in 1967 when he was "a kid with no money working at the Golden Nugget."

He has received numerous licenses, including when he bought the Nugget and opened Treasure Island, the Mirage and Bellagio. He has a reputation as the resort owner who can see and capitalize on what the future holds for Las Vegas.

Now, after selling Mirage Resorts to MGM, he is worth at least a half-billion dollars - part of which he intends to use to rebuild and remake the Desert Inn.

He said Wednesday he wouldn't be making the investment if he didn't believe in Las Vegas.

"Indian gaming is the most high-profile, menacing competition we've ever faced," he said. "But Las Vegas is just too tough a competitor."

"The public that comes to Las Vegas is very, very easy to understand," Wynn told the Control Board. "They have been for 60 years. They come for the best party."

So even if Indian gaming grows nationwide, he said it's "almost impossible to imagine" that anyone could replace or duplicate Las Vegas, which he said will soon have 135,000 rooms and "more convention space than anywhere else in the world."

Wynn said he plans to attract customers seeking the best party in town when he builds on the 220-acre Desert Inn property.

But he said it won't be a themed resort like Treasure Island.

"I think the idea of a theme like pirates or Camelot is pretty much a thing of the past," he said.

"Themes have a tendency to get old," he said. "How can you refurbish pirates, Camelot and Egypt over and over again?"

Wynn said his new property would aim for "relaxed elegance without over formality."

"The theme we're talking about is gardens, courtyards and natural light."

Along that same line, he said the new resort would be much larger than the existing Desert Inn's 715 rooms. That, he said, isn't big enough.

But Wynn said it won't be as large as the Bellagio, which totals some six million square feet.

"In and of itself, I never enjoyed size," he said.

He said he is aiming for about 3,000 rooms because "that's worked for us in the past."