An Ex-Wife Threatens Steve Wynn’s Casino Empire

He’s been kicked out of a company. He’s been through a $750 million divorce. He argued down the ransom demands of men who kidnapped his daughter. He even put his elbow through a Picasso. But Steve Wynn has never been in a pickle quite like this.

Elaine Wynn has asked a federal court for permission to sell the Wynn Resorts shares she was awarded in the couple’s 2009 divorce. A sale of even half of her 9.6 percent stake could trigger a series of events that would threaten her ex-husband’s sway over the $13 billion gaming company, his lavish, company-financed lifestyle—and possibly his personal fortune. “She’s the swing shareholder,” says William Thompson, a professor emeritus at the University of Nevada, who studies the gambling industry. “This could be the final damper on the guy.”