Casino operator Wynn Resorts is renaming its half-finished Massachusetts casino project to further distance itself from its former chairman’s sexual harassment allegations.
On Friday, Wynn CEO Steve Maddox met with members of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) to discuss removing Wynn Resorts founder Steve Wynn’s name from the gaming license of the $2.4b Wynn Boston Harbor resort casino project in Everett, just north of Boston, which is scheduled to open in June 2019.
Wynn Resorts suggested in March that a rebrand of the property was likely. At Friday’s hearing, Maddox announced that the property would now be known as Encore Boston Harbor. Encore is the name of a resort property that opened in 2008 as the second phase of the Wynn Las Vegas resort.
Maddox told the MGC members that while “the Wynn brand is strong,’ he also understood “the cultural sensitivity” surrounding the numerous harassment allegations brought against Steve Wynn this year by female staff members.