Las Vegas casino pioneer and philanthropist Elaine Wynn dies at 82

Elaine Wynn, the co-founder of Wynn Resorts and a leading philanthropist in education and the arts, has died at the age of 82, her family foundation announced on Tuesday.

Wynn died peacefully on Monday at her home in Los Angeles following a short illness, surrounded by her family, the Elaine P. Wynn & Family Foundation said. She is survived by her two daughters, Kevyn and Gillian Wynn, and seven grandchildren.

A central figure in the development of modern Las Vegas, Wynn co-founded Mirage Resorts in 1976 and Wynn Resorts Ltd. in 2000 with her former husband, Steve Wynn. She played a central role in the creation of iconic properties, including The Mirage and the $2.7 billion Wynn Las Vegas, which was at the time the most expensive resort ever built and quickly became one of the city’s most profitable.

“As co-founder and one of the largest shareholders of Wynn Resorts, she helped to create and grow the company to become the most esteemed luxury resort brand in the world,” the company said in a statement. “Her many talents and special touches are indelibly imprinted on the company and still evident throughout our resorts.”

Raised in Miami Beach after being born in New York City in 1942, Wynn described feeling out of place when she first moved to Las Vegas in 1967. “I still was in most respects a very traditional middle-class Jewish girl … and life here seemed pretty fast,” she once said.

Wynn's influence extended beyond the gaming industry. After divorcing Steve Wynn for the second time in 2010, she took on a more independent role in business and philanthropy. In 2012, she filed a lawsuit to regain voting control of her shares in Wynn Resorts, ultimately succeeding after Steve Wynn’s resignation from the company in 2018 amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

A committed civic leader, Wynn chaired the UNLV Foundation and emphasized raising academic standards at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, at the time seen by some as an afterthought to its famous basketball team. “Basketball, as much fun as it is … is really meant to be a small part of the university,” she told the Associated Press in 1991.

She also served as president of the Nevada State Board of Education and co-chaired a statewide campaign for gun background checks. In 2015, she called her work with Communities in Schools—an organization supporting at-risk students—her most important cause.

Wynn’s support for the arts was equally significant. In 2013, she purchased Francis Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud for $141.4 million and later lent the painting to the Portland Art Museum. She co-chaired the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and served on the board of the Kennedy Center after being appointed by President Barack Obama in 2011. She also founded the Elaine Wynn Studio for Arts Education in Las Vegas.

More recently, she championed a new art museum project in Las Vegas’ Symphony Park. “This museum is to be enjoyed primarily by people who live and work here… This is a personal legacy of giving something back to my city,” she said in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Wynn Resorts reflected on her legacy, saying: “She was a tireless advocate for Las Vegas, for children and their education, and for the arts. We’re grateful that the enduring sense of philanthropy she instilled in our company continues to this day.”