The process for naming Craig Billings chief executive at Wynn Resorts didn’t take long, especially after he explained to the company’s board why he was the best person to be just the third CEO in the casino operator’s history.
After former Wynn CEO Matt Maddox told the board last fall that he was stepping down on Jan. 31, Wynn Chairman Phil Satre said the directors had to make one of two choices: promote Billings, the company’s chief financial officer, or conduct a national search, typically the choice favored by corporate governance experts.
“We debated that decision very heavily,” Satre said. “We ultimately decided after a lot of discussions and as an organization that we wanted to take the second route. But we also wanted Craig to come into the boardroom before we voted, and tell us why he wanted the job and why he thought he was qualified.”
Billings’ presentation changed the board’s direction.
“I think one of the things that Matt did really well was to give Craig increased responsibility,” Satre said. “That demonstrated to the board that Craig had not only the financial chops that were required to be an effective CFO, but he also had the leadership and the operational chops to be a CEO. He gave us a very good inside candidate.”
Satre first became acquainted with Billings at International Game Technology. Satre was chairman of the company, and Billings held a financial executive role in the corporate office in Las Vegas.
Maddox was with Wynn Resorts for two decades, which included time as the top financial executive in Macau when the company’s first resort was under construction in the mid-2000s. He became CEO in February 2018 after the sudden resignation of Steve Wynn as CEO and chairman less than a week after a Wall Street Journal article uncovered years of sexual misconduct and harassment allegations against Wynn, many brought forward by employees.
Maddox agreed to remain in the CEO position for four years.
Billings, who also worked with Australian slot machine developer Aristocrat Technologies as the chief digital officer and with sports betting platform provider NYX Gaming Group, said there are many similarities between the gaming equipment sector and the casino operations side of the industry.
He also grew up in Las Vegas.
“I’ve been involved in the nuts and bolts of how the gaming floor works for some time and learned what you have to do in order to foster creative (slot machine designs),” Billings said. “It is no different for the people who design the architecture for these amazing buildings. It’s that same sense of artistry and creativity of swinging for the fences.”
In addition to senior executive positions with companies in Australia and the United Kingdom, Billings held corporate and banking and accounting roles working with gaming equipment providers.
As Wynn’s CEO, Billings said his “partners” are Wynn Resorts’ property presidents.
“There is nobody better in the business, so it’s really a general management role from that perspective and continuing to make sure that we are the standard-bearer for the casino industry,” he said.
Wynn has two casinos in Las Vegas, Encore Boston Harbor in Massachusetts and two properties in Macau (Wynn Macau and Encore are considered one property).
He joined the company in 2017 as chief financial officer and took on the title of president when Maddox became CEO.
Last year, Billings was named CEO of Wynn Interactive, the company’s sports betting and digital gaming division. At the time, Wynn Interactive was spinning off into a separate public company. But the transaction with a special purpose acquisition company was canceled the same day Billings was named incoming CEO.
He said the events weren’t related.
“There was a healthy skepticism around the sports betting industry right around that time on how much was being spent to acquire customers,” Billings said. “It was a coincidence in the way the markets…
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