Steve Wynn, the billionaire founder of Wynn Resorts, is drawing fire for a comment about poor people made during a presentation to investors Wednesday.
"Rich people only like being around
rich people," Wynn said, according to CNBC. "Nobody likes being around poor people, especially poor people."
The inflammatory words were part of Wynn’s explanation on creating an upscale environment that attracts everyone.
"This company caters to the top end of the gaming world," he said. "We're sort of Chanel or Louis Vuitton, to use the comparison, the metaphor of the retail business. But unlike Chanel and Louis Vuitton, we are able in our business to cater to all of the market. By making our standards so high . . . that everybody wants to be in the building."
"Or to put it in a more colloquial way, rich people only like being around rich people. Nobody likes being around poor people, especially poor people. So we try and make the place feel upscale for everyone. That is to say we cater to people who have discretion and judgment and we give them a choice and we are consistent in that."
Wynn recently unveiled a new design for a $2 billion casino resort in
Everett, Massachusetts, The Boston Globe reported. Groundbreaking is on hold because of an appeal of the project’s environmental permit. The casino is expected to open in late 2018 at the earliest.
A Wynn spokesman defended the billionaire’s poor people comment on Friday in an email
statement to the New York Daily News.
“Mr. Wynn's comment was made in the context of a discussion that the company creates luxurious resorts which have an aspirational appeal to a broad range of guests,” the rep wrote.
But the damage was seemingly done.
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