Casino bosses divided on presidential candidates - WSJ

The casino industry has divided its support for president as it faces the unprecedented reality of one of its own at the top of the Republican party ticket, the Wall Street Journal said.

2016-09-29

United States

Reading time 2:02 min

The casino industry has divided its support for president as it faces the unprecedented reality of one of its own at the top of the Republican party ticket, the Wall Street Journal said.

Casino company executives and investors have had a unique window into Donald Trump‘s career, having worked alongside, competed with or analyzed his companies over decades.

Gambling was a key business for Mr. Trump from the early 1980s through mid-2000s, as he ran two different publicly traded casino companies during a period that included several rounds of bankruptcy. He clashed with some fellow casino impresarios and never joined the American Gaming Association, the industry’s main lobbying group. But today many of his top business-world backers have or once had casino interests.

One industry leader not supporting Mr. Trump is Jim Murren, chief executive of gambling giant MGM Resorts International. Mr. Murren has said in recent public statements that he would back Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

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Mr. Murren said in an interview with the Journal that he grew up in a strong Republican household and has only once voted for a Democratic presidential candidate: Barack Obama, in 2008

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Mr. Murren said that Mr. Trump’s negative comments on Sen. John McCain‘s military service, Muslims, Hispanics and women were turn-offs. He said he is also concerned that a Trump presidency could be unsettling to Wall Street due to what he sees as Mr. Trump’s unpredictability.

“I believe that the equity and debt markets, let alone currencies, would be highly unstable in a Trump presidency, at least initially, because of the lack of analytical information that the markets so crave,” Mr. Murren said.

As a Wall Street casino analyst in the 1990s Mr. Murren recommended stock in Mr. Trump’s casino business—a decision he said he later regretted as the company ran into major financial problems.

“I was wrong,” Mr. Murren said. “I was wrong a lot as an analyst.”

Representatives of Mr. Trump’s did not respond to requests for comment.

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Carl Icahn, who owns some of Mr. Trump’s former Atlantic City casino assets, said in an interview on Bloomberg TV: Trump’s policies are possibly the only thing that’s going to save us from a decline in economic productivity

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In part, Mr. Icahn argued, Mr. Trump would reduce what he sees as over-regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies.

Casino owner Sheldon Adelson, historically a reliably large Republican donors, endorsed Mr. Trump in May and recently indicated he will donate $5 million to Mr. Trump, a person familiar with his thinking said.

At a rally earlier in the year in Las Vegas, Mr. Trump pointed out casino owner Steve Wynn in the crowd and said they were frequently in touch.

Mr. Wynn spoke out recently in a conference call against U.S. monetary policy but did not endorse Mr. Trump.

“What is going to happen with the election isn’t so much an issue of Trump versus Clinton at the moment,” he said. “Count me as one of those old white guys that is frustrated.”