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Dealers and Wynn Las Vegas are getting closer to an agreement on a union contract, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows. All the major issues have been agreed upon except one final decision. The filing by Wynn Las Vegas said the hotel-casino and Las Vegas Dealers Local 721 have reached agreement on all issues except the duration of a contract. Union director Joseph Carbon said the two sides are only “two or three years apart” on the length of the contract. He cautioned, however, that some of the dealers are unhappy with some of the language about tips. He did not provide details on what the contract proposal says about the hotel-casino’s tip policy.

“Not everybody’s always happy, especially with the first contract,” Carbon said. “It’s groundbreaking and I think people have to understand that.” Unionization in Las Vegas has a historic past, most of which has been unsuccessful. Dealers at the Tropicana, Stratosphere and the now-demolished New Frontier approved union representation, although the only contract that was ever signed covered just 105 dealers at the New Frontier. The current agreement at the Wynn Hotel is significant as it may open doors for many more similar cases.  The dealers at Wynn Las Vegas voted 3-to-1 in favor of a union in May 2007, eight months after the hotel-casino changed its tip policy so certain table-game supervisors could begin receiving a share of the dealers’ tip pool.

The dealers at Caesars Palace also voted for a union in late 2007, but negotiations broke down in December. While there still has been no contract signed, the news of progress in the union contract talks at the Wynn came on the same day that attorneys for the dealers were granted an additional week to file briefs in the dealers’ complaint against the hotel-casino’s tip-pooling policy.  Wynn dealers are asking Nevada Labor Commissioner Michael Tanchek to find that the hotel-casino’s tip policy violates state labor laws. They are asking him to award about 500 dealers $35 million in back pay and penalties. Attorneys for Wynn have maintained that the tip policy complies with state laws and is comparable to a restaurant sharing tips between busboys, bartenders and waiters. The dealer’s attorneys have until March 22 to file briefs in the tip-pooling case. If the briefs are filed by March 22, attorneys for both sides will have until April 19 to respond. Tanchek is expected to rule on the case by the end of May. A ruling was initially planned for January, but in December, Tanchek pushed the date to April because he needed more time than expected to review 55 hours of testimony from the hearing. Attorneys for both sides have said any decision by Tanchek will likely be appealed, probably to Clark County District Court, where dealers first challenged the policy in 2006.

Four of Nevada’s top casino companies — Las Vegas Sands Corp., Wynn Resorts Ltd., MGM Mirage and Harrah’s Entertainment — could be hurt by a move made Tuesday by Macau’s top leader. Land that was once set aside for casino development is being considered for other purposes due to the struggling casino industry. Several analysts and gaming company insiders wrote off the comments as political posturing. But others thought Chui, who replaced Edmund Ho as Macau’s top government official in December, was looking to slow casino development, telling Las Vegas-based gaming operators they need to submit plans for the sites, predominately on Macau’s Cotai Strip region, or lose the locations.

“The whole process will be made very transparent, but the land has to be taken back and some of it will be used for social housing,” Chui said. Each of the Las Vegas companies may feel the impact differently. “Other than those casino developments already approved, any further applications for casinos will be tightly controlled,” Pinge said in a research note. “We believe that the underlying message is no further casinos will be built on Macau in the foreseeable future.”

Gaming analyst David Bain said casino company shareholders are concerned “the new chief executive may be utilizing some specific language about needing to diversify or cap the growth in Macau.” Macau casinos, while up for the year, do not show the same size gains seen in past years. In 2009, Macau casinos collected $15.5 billion in gaming revenues, a 14 percent increase over 2008. However, 2008 had a 31 percent increase in gaming revenues following revenue growth of 47 percent in 2007 and 23 percent in 2006. Only one of the original four casinos is still scheduled to open in Macau this year, Wynn’s $650 million Encore project. Chui said Macau would allow new casinos as long as construction plans had been approved. “Apart from those we have agreed in principle in the past, in construction and those already approved, we will regulate (the building of new casinos) in the future,” Chui said . “We can’t think of a better place to build it, all things considered, namely the work force and government policy,” Wynn said. “We are constrained by the political process itself of getting the entitlements and the details done through planning and public works in Macau. We’re full tilt at that and our own planning process.”

Dealers at the Wynn Las Vegas have to wait a little longer before the official ruling on their tip-pooling is handed down. It won’t be until mid-May that the decision will be made as to whether or not the tip-pooling policy breaks state labor laws. Attorneys for the casino have asked the Nevada Labor Commissioner Michael Tancheck for more time to file briefs in the case. They are hoping that the additional briefs will delay Tancheck’s decision. A ruling was first planed for last January, but Tancheck pushed back the decision.

Back in December Tancheck decided that he needed more time to review the issue. Initially he was given 55 hours of testimony to base his decision on. He pushed the decision back to April because he was hoping to give himself enough time to hear the full argument and make an informed decision. Hearings on the Wynn tip-pooling policy began in July and concluded in October. Wynn dealers are asking Tanchek to find that the resort’s new tip policy violates state labor laws. They are asking him to award about 500 dealers $35 million in back pay and penalties.

Attorneys for Wynn have maintained that the tip policy complies with state laws. They said the resort’s tip-sharing policy allowing front-line resort employees to share dealers’ tips is comparable to a restaurant sharing tips between busboys, bartenders and waiters. Attorneys for both sides have said any decision by Tanchek will be appealed, probably to Clark County District Court, where dealers first challenged the policy in 2006. It is proving to be a long-standing battle and even if the casino gets their ruling, they most likely will still have to win other legal battles. The issue is akin to bartenders, busboys and waiters and their sharing in the tipping when it comes to restaurants. Legislators however are citing one difference: they aren’t at gambling facilities. That one distinction is putting many laws to the test—now is the time that all gambling laws and inner-workings are being gone over with a fine toothed comb.  The reason is because as a nation the US is coming quickly upon legalizing and regulating gambling

The Wynn Las Vegas is working along with N9NE Group’s Michael Morton to open a wine bar at its location. Later this year, the company is planning on opening the bar but focusing on more of a full-service business. Steve Thompson, spokesman for the Wynn, said “Our wine bar initiative includes producing a multi-sensory experience for our customers that includes music, food, ambiance and visual appeal.”  The new wine bar is scheduled to create a certain atmosphere for customers and “the design team is working hard to build a new experience for our future customers.”

The wine bar is being designed to be “intimate and edge” according to Thompson. It’s biggest offering is a wide range of wine from some of the best vineyards worldwide. A specially trained team of sommeliers are set to take the stage at the bar. A gourmet, chef-driven menu will be serving house-made and artisan charcuterie, farmhouse cheeses, hand-cut crudo, tapas a la plancha and mini-size desserts. All are being designed to “compliment” each other in offering and build the atmosphere of the wine bar. 

In addition, the music will be another focus of the new facility. Music that reflects rhythms from Italy, Spain, France, Argentina, Chile and Australia will be featured in the bar room. The facility is slated to open in the fall of 2010 and it is hoped to be instrumental in turning around the Las Vegas economy. Since the recession Las Vegas’ revenues have fallen drastically and have yet to recover. In the area, there are a huge number of foreclosures, small business failings and casinos are not doing well.  Overall, the economy of Las Vegas and surrounding areas is one of the worst in the country and officials of the state are trying to find ways of bringing customers back in to the area.

Since the recession, many people cut vacations out of their budgets due to necessity.  Since late 2007, the Las Vegas market has quickly declined. Casino operators are working to bring new facilities and offering to the general public. They area also putting together various promotionals and specials to bring people in. The new high-end wine bar is the lastest development within the city and owners are hoping it will spur a new group of customers to come to Las Vegas.

The Wynn Resorts recently pulled their bid for a New York casino at Aqueduct.  New York Governor David Patterson was pushing heavily for the deal to go through for the Aqueduct Racetrack. Thus far the racetrack has been struggling due to the economy and the state was pining to install a slots parlor that houses 4,500 slot machines in the facility.  The recession has brought many race tracks around the country to their knees in terms of funding. They are somewhat a “dying breed” because customers aren’t gambling at them. The biggest problem is that customers aren’t visiting them at all. Many cities are hoping that installing huge slots parlors maybe the answer to their financial woes and New York was no different.

The Wynn Resorts were one of six different developers that has formerly submitted bids to work with the Aqueduct Racetrack. Each one was looking to bring the 4,500 machines to the track and cash in on the revenues.  Unfortunately the Wynn rethought its position and walked away from the bidding process. In a statement the Wynn released it noted, “We are confident that the state of New York will find a qualified operator to meet its needs at Aqueduct. We would like to thank our associates and community leaders for all their assistance in crafting our proposal.” They wished the state and the racetrack well and withdrew from competition for the bid.

Without Wynn, there will now be only five proposals on the table to be reviewed. The five developers have been notified to submit their final proposals. They were also informed that they should be prepared to ante up the $200 million licensing fee within thirty days of signing an agreement. With the recession’s aftermath still stinging, New York is hoping to ensure that companies that are now bidding on the project will have the financial strength to compete any project that they are starting to work on.  The $200 million licensing fee is hoped to thwart any moderately serious bidders from entering the competition.  The city wants the racetrack to be successful and hopes that a hefty slots parlor will be the answer to spurring traffic and revenue for the state budget and the facility.