ONLINE GAMBLING AND CASINO GUIDE

I would like to take some personal responsibility for the following story:

“Casino magnate Steve Wynn said he plans to build a third major casino in Macau and will consider relocating the Las Vegas headquarters of publicly held Wynn Resorts to the Chinese gambling hub.

Wynn, during an interview Wednesday to promote the launch of Encore Macau, told CNBC he is looking at shifting the company headquarters to Macau, without providing details.”

Now, there has always been speculation over my “hatred” for Steve Wynn, but the true reasons behind my good-natured ridicule varies … and I think you have to live here to understand some of it.

You see, Steve Wynn is the closest thing we have to God in this town, and like all gods, I think that his omnipotence is overstated.

I maintain that it requires very little “talent” or “genius” to build a nice property with $2 Billion.  Hell, it might take a genius to build a bad property with $2 Billion.  This is why I think Jim Murren’s IQ is off the charts.

I kid, I kid.

Sort of.

It is also my position that it requires little talent or genius to make a lot of money.  If you have the right connections, pathological shamelessness, and a complete disregard for the well-being of your fellow man, you can make a fortune in this country.  I, myself, have had the opportunity to be extraordinarily wealthy.  If you are in the right place at the right time, and you are willing to do anything, you can make money.  A lot of money.  In general, however, talent and intelligence are the least important qualities required to make this happen.

When the Wynn hotel was built, I was able to accept our mainstream’s vision of Steve-as-genius by just rolling my eyes.  When it once again hit a fever pitch with Encore (”Look, he’s built a second hotel which is exactly like his first hotel! It’s genius I tell you!”), the guy started becoming the butt of my jokes.

I simply felt that there needed to be one person in Las Vegas that did not smoke Steve’s pole, and I decided to be that person.

You might say that I am very similar to Gandhi.  Or maybe even Rosa Parks.

I also took a particular dislike toward Steve when he began stealing dealer’s tips.  See above for my rationale.  Steve’s ploy didn’t take any talent or genius, it just took a man shameless enough to say “I’ll steal my employee’s tips.”  Does this make him a better businessman than someone who wouldn’t steal his employees tips?

Yes.

This is why I consider “good businessman” to be more of a pejorative than a compliment.

Then, there’s Jamie.

Honestly, how F’ing stupid do you have to be, to be worth billions of dollars, yet still (allegedly) flagrantly assault a woman in your own casino?  To me, that’s just dumb.  Hell, even most rappers have more self-control than this.  This woman was assaulted and publicly hung out to dry as an evil whore, then … nothing.

The (alleged) victim’s name is Sarah Cournede, by the way, and she is commonly referred to as “Jamie” by yours truly.  What happened to her?  Were trespassing charges ever pressed against her like Fox 5 said they would be?  Did she get paid off?

You’d think it might ne newsworthy.

If it was anyone else, the news would have followed up.  John Ensign, Jim Gibbons … there is no shortage of stories about these guys.

Alas, when a whore gets disappeared in Vegas, she had it coming.  After all, she was a whore.

Our local media only cares about violence against women when it’s profitable for them to care.  People give me a hard time about “sexism”, but I’ve never straight up choked a ho’.  This (allegedly) makes me more respectful of the female gender than is Steve Wynn.

Something to think about.

Last, but certainly not least, my love for Steve was consummated with the infamous “30% accurate” comment.  The same newspaper that couldn’t suck Steve’s dick hard enough when he (allegedly) smacked a bitch, the same newspaper that has pushed geriatric pornography on the unsuspecting masses — damn near piddled in their shoes when Steve threw them this bone.

How lovingly did the Review-Journal caress Steve’s hairy gonad purse?

They didn’t follow up with a single goddamn question.  They didn’t ask for three accurate examples, followed by seven inaccurate examples.  Hell, they didn’t even ask for a single inaccurate example.  Given the mainstream media’s general disdain for the alternative media, this was a classic example of a circle jerk.  You stroke mine, I’ll stroke yours.

Of course, Steve’s comment was probably not aimed at me specifically, but I’m sure some of it was.

Seriously, how many bloggers are there in the city?

A dozen?

There are literally thousands of so-called Las Vegas “blogs” out there, but most of them are marketing sites, cut-and-paste jobs, or link farms.  Many “bloggers” realized years ago that “blogging” was too much work, and have since moved on to soundbite mediums such as Twitter and Facebook.  Social media and “interactive media” is faster and cheaper.  It’s easier to advertise and promote than to create.  I’ll retweet you if you retweet me.  Work smart, not hard.  Most Vegas bloggers aren’t bloggers at all.  They’re good businessmen.

All of the true “bloggers” in this town could be shuttled around in a stretch limo.  There just aren’t very many of them.  There are only a few internet writers a/k/a “bloggers” in this town who say anything or form opinions that haven’t been prepackaged in a press release.  Most of our media, including our “interactive media”, are still writing and tweeting from within the confines of Steve Wynn’s scrotum.

As such, I think that Steve’s 30% comment only truly applied to a small group of people.

All of this being said, and all of my ridicule for Steve Wynn being noted and explained … I actually like Steve’s properties quite a bit.  I don’t think that I have ever made any bones about this.

As far as upscale Vegas joints go, I think the twin towers possibly rank as the very best hotel/casino in the UPSA.

As time goes on, my affinity and appreciation for Downtown grows stronger, but I get in a metrosexual mood a couple times a month.  The Wynn Buffet is still my favorite in the city, the Wynn Poker room is still incredibly comfortable and well-run, the Wynn/Encore waitresses are hot, the casinos are always clean, and I like hanging out in the rooms.  I’ve spent many an hour in front of a Wynn or Encore picture window shooting the shit with folks while banging away at a keyboard.

When I go to a Wynn property, I usually have a pretty good experience.  If I stated otherwise, I would be lying.  This type of conflict happens with me frequently.  I like my MacBook Pro, but I wouldn’t piss on Steve Jobs if he were on fire.  Some people like my photographs, but they hate me.  It is entirely possible to like the product, but dislike the creator.  It’s not a bad thing, it just is what it is.

As for Wynn moving company headquarters, well even were Steve to pick up and move tomorrow, I’m not sure it would be that big of a deal.  I mean, how many people visit the Wynn or Encore because it’s the business headquarters of the resort?

If Steve made good on the threat (promise?), it would only involve the transfer of 100 people from his corporate staff.  I don’t mean to imply that this would be a good thing, but 100 jobs in a city of 2 million is kind of like pissing in the ocean and measuring the water level.  It will make a difference, but not a large one.

I think the move would be more symbolic than anything, and much like Alec Baldwin’s “I’m moving out of the USA if George Bush gets re-elected” headfake, I somewhat doubt that this will happen at all.

Then again, if Macau doesn’t extradite, it may be the safest place to be when they finally find Jamie’s body.

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