Wynn's former second-in-command earns most stock options

LAS VEGAS - The gaming industry's best stock option package last year went not to casino mogul Steve Wynn, but to his former right-hand man, Bobby Baldwin.

Baldwin earned $8.8 million worth of stock options in 1999 while serving as Wynn's second-in-command at Mirage Resorts, Securities and Exchange Commission filings show.

Now the head of Mirage properties for the recently combined MGM Mirage, Baldwin's total compensation last year was also the industry's richest at $11.2 million.

Following Baldwin in stock option earnings are Mandalay Resort Group's Mike Ensign and Park Place Entertainment's Arthur Goldberg, who earned 1999 stock options worth $7.8 million and $4.1 million, respectively, based on Monday's stock closing prices.

When their 1999 salaries and bonuses are added to the value of their stock options, Ensign's $9.6 million tops the field of chief executives, just ahead of Goldberg's $9.2 million.

Stock options can be the easiest way to substantially increase executive compensation, according to Mae Lon Ding, president of Personnel Systems Associates.

The use of stock options has grown dramatically, Ding said, because tying executives' earnings to shareholders' fortunes is easy for compensation committees to digest.

''Both the executive and shareholders benefit if the stock price goes up,'' she said. ''Politically, options are very palatable.''

Internal Revenue Service regulations reducing the tax benefits of large salaries and bonuses also contribute to the trend of favoring stock options over cash, Ding added.

Among the chief executives that were not granted stock options in 1999 were MGM Mirage's Terry Lanni, Mirage's Steve Wynn, Riviera Holdings' Bill Westerman, Ameristar Casinos' Craig Neilsen and Santa Fe Gaming's Paul Lowden.