Steve Wynn

Steve Wynn was born in Connecticut in 1942, and he had a younger brother. His father owned a few bingo parlors, and he died during an operation shortly before his son graduated from college. Wynn took over the family business, making enough money to invest in Las Vegas' Frontier Hotel. While in college, he met his future wife, Elaine Pascal, and they married after graduation.

Steve WynnDuring the first part of the 1970s, Steve Wynn used proceeds from a real estate deal to buy controlling interest in the Golden Nugget Casino. He expanded and renovated it, turning it into a four-diamond resort hotel that attracted an upper-crust guest list. In 1980, Wynn attempted to replicate that success by building a similar casino in New Jersey's Atlantic City. Wynn sold the Golden Nugget in Vegas in 1987, and the $440 million sale allowed him to focus on the development and design of his signature property, the Mirage. That casino hotel opened in 1989, setting the bar high in terms of luxury and sheer size.

Not to be outdone, Wynn opened the Treasure Island resort in 1993, locating it next door to the Mirage. It featured a live pirate show and entertainers from Cirque du Soleil, and it is still one of the most exhilarating resorts in Las Vegas. He opened the Bellagio in 1998, and that hotel is one of the most spectacular in the world. It includes an artificial lake, an art gallery, indoor conservatory, and abundant restaurants and boutiques. His company, Mirage Resorts Inc. has also developed casino hotels in other US locales, such as Biloxi, Mississippi.

Wynn stepped down as chairman of Mirage Resorts, Inc. in 2000, when the MGM bought the Mirage. He then bought the Desert Inn Hotel, demolished it and built the Wynn Las Vegas, his largest-ever resort which opened in 2005. Wynn is active in public service, acting as chairman of the University of Utah's Moran Eye Institute and serving on the advisory board for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in DC. Steve Wynn is also on the George Bush Presidential Library board, as well as the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. He officially became a billionaire in 2004 when he doubled his net worth to $1.3 billion.