Wynn breaks ties with indicted gambling site

Wynn breaks ties with indicted gambling site
Federal prosecutors alleged last week that the founders of PokerStars and two other big gambling sites are breaking various laws, prompting a distancing by Wynn Resorts.

By Daniel Massey

Wynn Resorts has severed ties with PokerStars.com, less than a month after a ballyhooed partnership between the two gambling giants was formed to lobby for the legalization of Internet gaming.

The move follows the unsealing of an indictment last week by federal prosecutors in New York, which alleged the founders of PokerStars and two other firms took part in a criminal scheme to trick or bribe banks to assure the flow of billions in illegal gambling profits.

In a statement, Wynn Resorts said the decision to end the short-lived partnership with PokerStars “was reached as a result of the indictment unsealed by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.”

In announcing the alliance last month, Wynn Chief Executive Steve Wynn had said it was time for the jobs and tax dollars produced by Internet gambling to “come home” to the U.S. The two companies had plans to launch pokerstarswynn.com if their lobbying effort succeeded.

Wynn Resorts had made waves in New York City in 2009 when it sought a lucrative contract to build a slots parlor at Aqueduct Racetrack. But the firm withdrew from that competition over frustration with the process, and the contract eventually went Genting New York, part of a Malaysian-owned casino conglomerate.