The Boston Globe - 17.10.2019

A12 Nation/Region The Boston Globe THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019

field on the way to its opening.
And early gambling revenue
has fallen short of the high ex-
pectations set by its Las Vegas-
based parent company, Wynn
Resorts, while seeking a license
to operate here.
“Sometimes, I guess, busi-
nesses like to blame a person
for not living up to their initial

uENCORE
Continued from Page A

expectations,” said Everett

Mayor Carlo DeMaria.

DeMaria said he thought

DeSalvio was doing a good job

at the helm of a facility that is

key to the city’s economic de-

velopment. “It’s just very un-

fortunate,” he said.

Wynn Resorts provided few

details on DeSalvio’s departure,

but the company said in a

statement that it was his deci-

sion to step down. His last day

was Tuesday.

“Bob leaves Encore with a

hand-selected team prepared

to take on the challenges

ahead,” Wynn Resorts chief ex-

ecutive Matt Maddox said in

the statement. “I salute him for

his commitment to the project

and, most importantly, his ded-

ication to his team.”

Wynn Resorts said neither

DeSalvio nor Gullbrants was

available for interviews

Wednesday.

DeSalvio, 63, came to Wynn

in March 2014, when it was

run by founder Steve Wynn. He

had spent the previous eight

years opening, then running, a

casino in Bethlehem, Pa., that

was owned at the time by Las

Vegas Sands Corp. Before that,

he was executive vice president

at Foxwoods Resort Casino in

Connecticut.

Gullbrants, 52, has a back-

ground largely in hotels. He

previously was vice president

and general manager at the

company’s hotels in Las Vegas,

and he spent 20 years in opera-

tions and management for the

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co.

Alan R. Woinski, a New Jer-

sey casino consultant and pres-

ident of the information com-

pany Gaming USA, said he was

puzzled by the leadership

change.

He said DeSalvio was well-

suited for the Everett property

because of his knowledge of the

Northeastern gambling market

and his experience running re-

gional casinos operated by Ve-

gas behemoths.

“If it’s Bob’s decision to

leave, I don’t think he’s going to

have any problems finding a

job anywhere else,” said Woins-

ki, who described himself as a

longtime acquaintance of De-

Salvio. “Wynn’s going to have a

tough time finding someone to

replace him.”

He said he did not find the

disappointing early revenues to

be a major red flag for Encore,

noting that they are due largely

to slow slot-machine revenues

that are in part a result of an

increasingly saturated market

whose characteristics are out of

the control of any single opera-

tor.

The glitzy casino has had a

relatively smooth first few

months in terms of logistics, as

fears of traffic problems have

largely not materialized. But

the casino has lagged behind

revenue projections as slot ma-

chine profits have remained

stubbornly slow.

The Massachusetts Gaming

Commission reported this

week that Encore has brought

in $166.8 million between its

June 23 opening and the end of

September, paying $41.7 mil-

lion in state taxes. Wynn Re-

sorts told state regulators in

2014 that it expected to take in

more than $800 million in

gross gaming revenue during

its first year.

DeSalvio was the public face

of Wynn Resorts in Massachu-

setts during a challenging time

for the company. After a 15-

month investigation, the Mas-

sachusetts Gaming Commis-

sion in April fined the company

$35 million over its handling of

sexual misconduct allegations

against Steve Wynn.

Maddox, the company pres-

ident who took over as chief ex-

ecutive after Wynn resigned in

February 2018, was fined

$500,000 after the commission

decided he should have done

more to investigate a com-

plaint about comments Steve

Wynn made to employees.

Steve Wynn has denied

wrongdoing.

Gullbrants was interviewed

during the gambling commis-

sion’s investigation about how

he handled complaints about

Steve Wynn by massage thera-

pists working at one of the

company’s Vegas hotels. The

commission ultimately found

no wrongdoing by Gullbrants

and issued the necessary ap-

provals for him to work as an

executive at Encore.

In a statement, members of

the gambling commission said

DeSalvio “consistently demon-

strated a strong commitment

to working with community

stakeholders and played a criti-

cal role in key areas such as di-

versity and transportation

planning throughout the con-

struction and opening pro-

cess.”

“As regulators, we value a

positive working relationship

with our licensees and look for-

ward to working with Mr. Gull-

brants on the important work

that lies ahead,” the statement

said.

Stephen P. Crosby, the for-

mer chairman of the commis-

sion who left in September

2018, said in an interview that

DeSalvio had built a relation-

ship of trust and respect with

the commission.

“He was a fabulous ambas-

sador for his company and his

industry,” Crosby said in an in-

terview. “He’s open, he’s collab-

orative, he’s patient — which

you need a lot of in this busi-

ness.”

Public officials who have

worked with Encore say they

came to know DeSalvio well

but had not yet spent much

time with Gullbrants.

“I’m disappointed to see this

happening, because he was just

a person that we could just call

anytime and he would have an-

swers for us,” said state Senator

Sal N. DiDomenico, who repre-

sents Everett in the Legisla-

ture. “Not just me, but anyone,

really, who he came into con-

tact with. It didn’t matter if you

held an office or a title, or were

just a person who was visiting

the facility.”

Andy Rosen can be reached at

[email protected].

Casino president steps down amid low early returns

JESSICA RINALDI/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2016

STUDIO J INC./WYNN RESORTS

Robert DeSalvio (above)

was a key figure in selling

the casino to the public. His

replacement, Brian

Gullbrants (left), had

overseen the casino’s hotel

and food business as

executive vice president of

operations.

‘Ifit’sBob’s

decisiontoleave,

Idon’tthinkhe’s

goingtohaveany

problemsfindinga

jobanywhereelse.’

ALAN R. WOINSKI,

Casino consultant, speaking

about Robert DeSalvio

By Kim Bellware

WASHINGTON POST

For the first time in seven

years, teachers in the third-larg-

est US school district are ex-

pected to go on strike Thursday

after contract negotiations be-

tween Chicago city officials and

the Chicago Teacher’s Union hit

a stalemate Tuesday night.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot an-

nounced Wednesday morning

that classes at Chicago public

schools will be canceled Thurs-

day in anticipation of the strike.

Along with familiar issues

such as contract length, bene-

fits, and class sizes, one of the

core demands of the teachers

union is not explicitly about

their work environment, but

rather community justice: ac-

cess to affordable housing.

This contract negotiation

marks the first time the union

has expressly called on the city

to address systemic housing eq-

uity. It’s part of a growing

movement focused more broad-

ly on issues affecting the com-

munity for what’s often called

‘‘bargaining for the common

good.’’

Housing is especially critical

in Chicago, where a mix of his-

toric segregation and disinvest-

ment in nonwhite communities

has hit black residents hard.

Chicago teachers set to strike

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