Wynn-ing in Atlantic City

Steve Wynn, one of Las Vegas’s most famous casino magnates, may be planning to buy or build a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Wynn Interactive LLC, which is the company he founded, recently filed an application for an Atlantic City casino service license. It seems to be an especially lucrative time to enter the world of New Jersey gaming as online gambling is set to become legal in that state on November 26, 2013.

Steve Wynn has a long history of casino ownership and near-ownership in Atlantic City. In the 1980s, when the city’s gaming offerings were much more limited, he owned the Golden Nugget, which is now called the Atlantic Club. Wynn sold the Golden Nugget in 1987 and used the $440 million he made from that sale to launch his Vegas career.

Towards the end of the 1990s, Mirage Resorts Inc., the company Wynn owned at the time, announced plans to build a casino in Atlantic City’s Marina District. But Wynn sold Mirage Resorts soon afterwards. The firm’s new owners never brought those plans to fruition. In 2007, Wynn tried to convince Atlantic City officials to let him develop Bader Field, a 140-acre parcel of land that had once been home to an airport. Wynn wanted to construct a casino called Wynn Atlantic City on the site. However, the city could not find a buyer for the land, and Wynn’s plans fell by the wayside.