Steve Wynn Recalls Mirage Opening That Transformed Las Vegas Strip
The former casino mogul spoke about the resort's chaotic launch and the $2 million purchase of a small house that nearly blocked the project.
Steve Wynn returned to a Las Vegas casino stage to recount the opening of The Mirage, the resort that redefined the city's Strip.
Wynn spoke to a sold-out audience of 600 at the Golden Nugget on Oct. 22 for a Neon Museum program called “Reflections of The Mirage: A Conversation with Steve Wynn.”
The venue was fitting, as Wynn controlled the Golden Nugget from 1973 until 1989 before turning his attention to the Strip.
For nearly two hours, Wynn, now 84 and legally blind, recounted the development of the resort that began with a $630 million construction cost.
He said critics doubted a property of that scale could survive, and recalled a Forbes reporter telling him casino executives across Las Vegas believed the project was headed for failure.
When the magazine was published, however, its headline remained decidedly unconvinced: “Snake Eyes for Steve.”
“The place was profitable in the first 60 minutes it existed,” he told the audience.
Wynn described opening day as a scene of near chaos.
“Everything went to capacity,” he said. “Fifty to sixty thousand people came the first day.”
He recalled being asked by a Wall Street Journal reporter how long it would take for the property to break even.
According to Wynn, land values on the Strip roughly doubled within 36 hours, as competitors scrambled to pursue expansion projects.
The 3,044-room Mirage is widely credited with helping trigger a development boom that transformed the Strip during the 1990s.
Wynn said the greatest obstacle to building The Mirage was a small house owned by a 91-year-old former vaudeville performer and actress, Grace Hayes.
She steadfastly refused to sell the home she had shared with her husband, screenwriter Robert E. Hopkins, who died there in 1966.
Her residence became the last privately owned home on the Las Vegas Strip after she turned down repeated offers from developers, including Howard Hughes.
“She said, ‘I’ll never sell Hoppy’s house,'” Wynn recalled.
Wynn said Hayes finally relented after he showed her a scale model of the project, recalling taking her by wheelchair to view it.
“Oh my God, Steve,” he recalled her saying. “It’s beautiful. It’s so big. There’s nothing like that here.”
He paid $2 million for the small house and the adjacent parcel, on which the Grace Hayes Lodge once stood.
Wynn also allowed Hayes to spend her remaining years in a luxury suite at the Golden Nugget.
During his talk, Wynn also reflected on other decisions that came to define the resort, including signing illusionists Siegfried & Roy and establishing a dolphin habitat.
The attraction later became a regular destination for Clark County marine biology students.
The event drew criticism because Wynn’s career ended amid allegations of sexual misconduct that surfaced in a 2018 investigation by The Wall Street Journal.
Wynn resigned as chairman and chief executive of Wynn Resorts in February 2018 and has consistently denied allegations that he harassed or assaulted women.
Nevada gaming regulators fined Wynn Resorts $20 million in 2019 for failures related to the company’s handling of misconduct complaints.
In response, the company overhauled its leadership structure, added women to its board of directors, replaced executives and employees tied to reporting failures, and implemented governance reforms.
Wynn’s settlement with regulators bars him from involvement in Nevada’s gaming industry, though it does not prohibit public appearances or entry into casinos.
