Casino operator Steve Wynn is spurning his friend and former business rival Donald Trump in his presidential run, choosing to stay on the sidelines instead, according to Bloomberg News.
“I’m a friend of Donald Trump but I have not supported either candidate in the presidency as yet - I’m friendly with Bill Clinton, I know Hillary,” Wynn said in an interview with Bloomberg.
“I’m hoping our conversation in America in this campaign gets to be more substantive about the real issue facing us at the moment and that is a constantly increasing deficit in the government.”
Trump’s fellow casino operators have been mixed in deciding whether to back his run as the Republican nominee. MGM Resorts CEO Jim Murren, a lifelong Republican, announced this week that he’s supporting Hillary Clinton because he said Trump has alienated and criticised women, the disabled, minorities and Muslim Americans.
Sheldon Adelson, who runs Las Vegas Sands, has endorsed Trump, though his financial commitment has been questioned. Wynn and Trump have clashed in the past, butting heads two decades ago over development plans in Atlantic City, New Jersey, but eventually they patched things up.
In his interview with Bloomberg News this week, Wynn said he’d like to see candidates more focused on reducing regulation and creating more jobs in the private sector.
