"We will do what is best to protect our shareholders and our value"

Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox, seen in February in Las Vegas, is set to answer Massachusetts gambling regulators’ questions Friday about the $2.5 billion casino the company is building outside Boston.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. WYNN 0.75% Chief Executive Matt Maddox is set to appear before Massachusetts gambling regulators Friday to stress that the company has restructured its board and worked to change its culture in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against founder Steve Wynn.

Friday’s meeting is expected to focus on whether Mr. Wynn, who in February resigned as chairman and CEO and later sold his entire 12% stake, should still be considered legally connected to a $2.5 billion casino project the company is building outside Boston.

It would mark the first time Mr. Maddox has appeared before the Massachusetts Gaming Commission since regulators announced an investigation, following a January Wall Street Journal article detailing allegations from current and former employees that would amount to a decadeslong pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Wynn. The article included an allegation that he paid $7.5 million to a manicurist at the Wynn Las Vegas resort who in 2005 told people that Mr. Wynn had forced her to have sex with him.

In an interview this week, Mr. Maddox said the hearing will be important in determining how the company plans to move forward with its half-built casino resort. He said potential buyers have expressed interest in the project, though the company hasn’t decided whether it wants to sell.

The company could be more likely to sell if it felt the political pressure in the state would be too much to overcome, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat, and Republican Gov. Charlie Baker have suggested the Wynn name should be removed from the casino, and lawmakers in the state have been highly critical of the company.

The project, which is scheduled to open in 2019, is expected to generate $252 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for Wynn Resorts in 2020, the first full year of operation, equal to about 9% of earnings from the company’s casinos world-wide, according to J.P. Morgan estimates.

The person familiar with the matter cited estimates that the Massachusetts casino when completed could be worth an additional roughly $5 a share to the company, whose stock currently trades at about $184 a share.

This person noted that the political liability of a contentious regulatory process might not be worth such a modest payday for the company.

In an earnings call Tuesday, Mr. Maddox said Wynn Resorts still likes the prospects of the Boston area. But he said if there were any risks that regulatory scrutiny in Massachusetts could become a “contagion” on the rest of the company’s operations, “we will have to take a hard look at what is best to protect our shareholders and our value.”

“What I’m not going to do is be caught flat-footed,” Mr. Maddox said in an interview with the Journal on Wednesday.