Stephen A. Wynn

Born in 1942 in New Haven, Connecticut, Steve Wynn moved as a youth to Maryland when his father accepted a job operating a bingo parlor. When he was 10, Wynn visited Las Vegas with his father. He was impressed with the business opportunities he saw on the Strip and told his father that when he grew up he was going to be a casino boss. But Wynn's father was a compulsive gambler, and when he died in 1963 from complications from open-heart surgery, he left more than $350,000 in gambling debts.

After graduating from high school, Wynn attended the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a degree in English literature and returned home to manage his family's bingo business following his father's death.

Wynn married and, at the age of 25, moved his family to Las Vegas, where he worked as a slot department manager in a casino. For the next several years, he held various casino and hotel positions. He also owned and operated a Nevada beverage distributorship and dabbled in real estate.

Wynn's real estate dealings enabled him to purchase several pieces of land, including a $1.1 million parcel owned by Howard Hughes. He doubled his investment five months later when he sold the land to the owners of Caesars Palace. Taking his profit from that transaction, Wynn made a major investment in Golden Nugget stock in 1972. One year later, he had acquired enough stock to warrant a title and a seat on Golden Nugget's board of directors. In 1973, he was named president and chairman of the board. Under his guidance, the Golden Nugget became a destination resort that included four-star service and headliner entertainment. He went on to build the Golden Nugget Hotel and Resort on the boardwalk in Atlantic City in 1980, selling that property to Bally in 1987.

The Mirage was Wynn's next flagship property in Las Vegas. It opened in 1989 at a cost of $730 million and quickly became the largest and most successful hotel and casino in the history of Las Vegas. The Mirage, a cross between a tropical Hawaiian oasis and a family-oriented Disneyland in the desert, put Wynn in the forefront of a dramatic resurgence and expansion of Las Vegas. Wynn opened his Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in 1993. He expanded further on his concept of the luxury casino with Bellagio, a $1.6 billion resort that includes an artificial lake, indoor conservatory, museum-quality art gallery, and high-end boutiques and restaurants. In 2000, The Mirage was sold to MGM Grand for $6.6 billion. Wynn then built Wynn Las Vegas, a $2.7 billion property, which opened in 2005.

Wynn has been diagnosed with an incurable eye disorder, retinitis pigmentosa, that has greatly reduced his eyesight. In 2006, Time magazine recognized Wynn as one of the world's 100 most influential people. He has served as chairman of the University of Utah's Moran Eye Institute and is an advisory board member at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Wynn has also served on the board of trustees of both the University of Pennsylvania and the George Bush Presidential Library.