Digital Social Hour - The $2.5M DNC Controversy: What They're Hiding | Blake Wynn DSH #681

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

💥 Dive into the $2.5M DNC Controversy: What They're Hiding! Join us on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly as we unravel the hidden truths behind the DNC's lavish spending and their disconnect with everyday Americans. 🗣️ Discover exclusive insights into the real issues affecting the nation, from skyrocketing prices to national security threats, and the impact of recent political dynamics.   Get ready for a rollercoaster of revelations as we discuss the shifting political landscape with our special guest, who shares firsthand experiences and eye-opening anecdotes. 🇺🇸 Don't miss out on this engaging conversation that's packed with valuable insights and bold predictions for the upcoming elections.   Watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets. 📺 Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🚀 Join the conversation and let your voice be heard.   CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Trump’s Long Day 04:09 - Getting Into Politics 08:56 - Determining the Election Outcome 14:16 - Celebrity Poker Tour Insights 16:32 - Upcoming Events 19:28 - Austin Ekeler Discussion 21:46 - Steve Wynn Overview 25:24 - Table Setting Tips 29:24 - Future of Las Vegas 31:16 - Finding Blake   APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail]   GUEST: Blake Wynn https://www.instagram.com/blakewynn   SPONSORS: Deposyt Payment Processing: https://www.deposyt.com/seankelly   LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I would look pretty light at DNC compared to RNC. At the DNC, they're all talking about, you know, they basically get up there and they talk about how they don't like the middle class, they don't like the upper class, they want to grow the size of the middle class. But meanwhile, everyone in that room, the seats in the suites start at half a million dollars. The big suites are as much as two and a half million dollars. They spend a lot of money to be there.

They have no legitimate pulse on what's going on right now in the world. The issue is themselves. All right, guys, Blake Wynn is back on. Coming off an interesting night. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Got to spend some time with President Trump yesterday. You know what's so interesting? I started my visit with him yesterday about 3.45 in the afternoon,

and I thought I had a stressful day on my way over there. As it turns out, his day started in West Palm Beach, Florida. He got on a plane before the sun came up, flew to Arizona so he could go visit the border, something that our current administration doesn't really ever do, as you know. Visits the border shakes a lot of fantastic Americans' hands who are helping protect that border against really, in some cases, the current administration. He's out there. It's 107 degrees. He's in a full suit. He then gets on the plane. He comes to Las Vegas. He has a whole bunch of work to do in Las Vegas. And I start seeing him at 345. That's what he did up to 345. It just goes to show you, I mean, this is one of the most selfless patriots and we have the

opportunity to elect him as president in November. It's really, it's exciting. Right. And now you got Biden closing up shop at four. Closing up shop at four while he's in there. You know, it's so interesting. I mean, if you watched the DNC, you would think that Trump has been in power for 12 of the last 16 years. As it turns out, they have. They say, we will not go back. You're in right now. What do you mean we won't go back? Go back to what? You know, I mean, it's absolutely ridiculous what's going on right now.

And I think America feels that way. They don't like what they have to spend on things. They don't like how unsafe they feel. They don't like what's going on around the globe in terms of all the war and all the fighting. And so I think, I think he's got a real good chance in November. Yeah. The crowd looked pretty light at DNC compared to RNC. Well, you know, the crowd size thing, especially in those environments. I mean, you know, at the DNC, all the, they're all talking about, you know, they basically, they, they get up there and they talk about how they don't like the middle class. They don't like

the upper class. They want to grow the size of the middle class is what they say, which they have no actual plan of how to do that. But meanwhile, everyone in that room, the seats in the suites start at half a million dollars. The big suites are as much as two and a half million dollars. So these people that are in there supporting and cheering, they spend a lot of money to be there. They have no legitimate pulse on what's going on right now in the world. And they're obviously the most, you know, liberal people in the world, which is fine. The issue is not people that are being liberal. The issue is the issue that's themselves.

The issue is the border. The issue is not people deciding who they want to vote for. The issue is when you go to the gas station, when you go to the grocery store, stuff is so much more expensive than it was in 2020. And they get up there and they admit that. And they say, we won't go back. And people sort of cheer and they talk about joy and they talk about all these things. I would ask you this, and I'd ask anybody listening this question. When is the last time that you woke up one morning and you said, you know what, I'm not having a great day, but this person is president, so therefore I will be joyful. I mean, that's not

really what determines an individual's joy. But what I can tell you is what determines an individual's sense of struggle. You know, when your checking account ends up at zero, when you don't own your home and your rent's higher than your income, when your income is not only not that high, but then your taxes are really high on that income. People feel that. You can ensure, for as sure as the sun is going to come up and go down every day, that people can feel that and they're not going to be very happy as a result of it. And so when you talk about joy, if you don't have a plan to actually make people not feel pain, nevermind try and feel joy, you're just, there's a lot of blah, blah,

blah for the circus and certain media outlets eat it up, but I don't think Americans do. Absolutely. When did you start getting really into politics? Because I know you grew up Democrat, right? I grew up Democrat. You know, I think that party is not what that party used to be. Now, I mean, you know, Tulsi Gabbard would be a good example of exactly the kind of person that has felt exactly what I would say I have felt. But really, I mean, from 2016 and on, I don't think people remember how bad of a term Obama had in his second term from 2012 to 2016. I think even in 08, I mean, granted, I wasn't old enough to vote yet, but I would have voted for him. And I don't think he did a poor job that first time. But we were left with a country that the economy wasn't doing very well. It wasn't very safe. The

border had a big crisis. Healthcare, while he took a stab at fixing it, really totally screwed it up. And so we needed a big change. I think in a lot of ways, his second term created the ability for someone like President Trump to come in and win. I mean, you talk about a country rejecting what it currently had at the moment. I can't think of a more polar opposite to President Obama than President Trump. And he had a fantastic term. I mean, all the different ways you can stack it up, right? No wars, the price of things, the economy, people's wages. I mean, there's so many issues you can point at and go, wow, this is one of the better presidencies in the history of the United States.

And then somehow in 2020, he didn't win. And look what's happened since then. I think coronavirus was unfortunately timed because Democrats were able to use that and sort of blame him for all the things that were caused by a global pandemic. Unlike the, unlike people have ever seen before or anyone who's alive has seen before you've sort of read about it in history books, but that's the extent of it. And you know, I don't think that's going to work anymore. You know,

they're, they're trying to blame everything that's going on right now on him, but you've, you've had control for 12, the last 16 years, you've had control, you know, you had for, for the first two years of Biden's term,

you had all three branches of government. You still have the presidency and the Senate. And by the way, she says, she gets up there. On day one, I'm going to do this. On day one, I'm going to do this. Excuse me, you're on day 1100. You're in there right now. And by the way, you know, people could say,

well, she's only vice president. Really? Because are you saying that Biden's in charge? I don't think so. He doesn't think so. So, you know, I mean, the promises people should sort of take those things as pretty empty. I haven't seen a single change they've made. Have you? Yeah, I've seen the changes. Are you kidding me? I fill up my car for five times more. I go to the grocery store. It's $286 to get like a basket of items that normally used to be 90 or a hundred dollars. Um, I've seen a lot of it. Yeah. You know, and

it's, and it's, and it's, I meant positive change, but yeah. Oh, I've seen those. No, no, I haven't. When I go to whole foods now, it's like 300 bucks. Same with Costco. It's very expensive and it's, and it's very, you know, it's very unsafe. I think the, you know, truthfully, the prices and stuff, all these things that, you know, you and I both know to be true that most Americans can feel to be true. Those are the issues that you already feel from what's been done. The real damage they've done, you haven't even started to feel yet. You know, people don't understand when, when president Trump gets up there and starts going on about how serious of an issue it is that all these illegal immigrants have come into the country

and there's so many undocumented people here, people say, oh, maybe you should have compassion for them and this and that. And it's not about that. If two of them are terrorists and one of those two people decides to do something major in one of our major cities and kills 10,000 Americans, 20,000 Americans,

that'll be the moment that everyone goes, oh, that's why illegal immigration wasn't okay. It's not about every last person that's here. Now, granted, there's elements of it that are, all the taxpayer dollars that are going to that, all of the jobs that are going to that, all of the issues in cities like homelessness and all these other things that are a result of this that's one thing but the the the safety of the average american today is lower than they even realize because there's unrealized consequences of what this administration has done right yeah we haven't seen the full effects yet not even close that's scary and if and if she wins this time i think it'll be irreparable you

think so i think so i don't think we'll be able to come back from it? Not for a very long time. And, you know, people in our generation are the ones that are going to feel it the most. You know, I have this conversation with, you know, older people in my family and different people that I meet, and even a lot of the politicians who are, you know, older people, and they say, at the end of the day, I might not necessarily even be here

for the full consequence of this. But you and I, who are trying to build business and all these different things at a young age, we could be in some serious, serious trouble. The promise of America is about to change if she wins again. And it's not going to be the same promise that has been the case for 240-some years.

What do you think is going to determine who wins this election? Well, from a literal perspective, it's going to come down to seven states. Within those seven states, it's going to come down to seven states. Within those seven states, it's going to come down to the people who are sort of sober-minded to the country right now. And they're going to say, I don't like how expensive things are. I don't like what's going on with safety.

Maybe I don't like his rhetoric, though. So they're sort of battling themselves. And they're looking for some issue to push them over the edge. I think what's going on with the economy, because everyone can feel it with their checkbook and 99.9% of people care about the way that their checkbook feels, I think that's going to be the key issue. And it's really going to be a key issue in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Nevada, and Arizona.

Every other state, I hate to admit it, is sort of accounted for. There is no chance that President Trump isn't the person that wins Louisiana. There's no chance that he wins California, which is crazy, by the way, that he doesn't win California because, boy, talk about a state that has been totally screwed up by Democrats. California's been one of the most beautiful places, great beaches. San Francisco, talk about one of the business capitals of the planet, not just the country. You go to San Francisco now, that is almost a third world country. It is so dirty.

It is so unsafe. Homelessness like you would not believe. Crime running so incredibly rampant. And it's people like Gavin Newsom, people like Kamala Harris, who was DA there for so long that have created these issues. And now they want to bring the issues to the whole country. And they're asking you to vote for it solely predicated on the idea that they're not President Trump. You know, he says even at the RNC, he got up there.

He says, he says, they're anti-MAGA. What does that mean? Anti-Make America Great Again. They're anti that. How does that make any mean? Make America great again. They're anti that? How does that make any sense? And it doesn't make any sense. You know, the Republican Party has turned into the party of common sense. And the Democratic Party has turned into this collective of people who have been so fear-mongered

and are victims of such a level of dishonest propaganda that they don't even realize that they have decided that feels like their only option. Part of me says I sort of feel for those people because if they really understood what was going on, they'd be like, wait a second, I'm not a sucker and they're treating me like one. I'm going to vote for the other side and everything about my life is going to get better as a result.

All the promises the Democrats are making, the only way they're going to fulfill them is if President Trump wins. Right. Yeah, you'd think these Californians would start to realize things are going downhill, right? Well, they do realize it. They just don't attribute it to the party, which is why the population of California is going down, not counting the illegal immigrants that are coming in there and replenishing it. And they're coming to states like Nevada. They're

coming to states like Texas, states like Florida. And that's why those states are getting a little more Democratic votes. They're still going to be red's why those states are getting a little more Democratic votes. They're still going to be red states, but they're getting a little more Democratic votes because these Californians are saying, OK, our state is screwed up. We're going to move to a different state. We're going to vote the same. We're going to treat it the same because we don't think that was really the problem. OK, so what's the problem? I didn't know Nevada was a swing state because I've never met a Democrat out here. Nevada is a swing state. It is the swing state that it looks like President Trump is doing the best in right now. Biden won here in 2020.

President Trump won here in 2016. I think he'll win here in 2024. You know, right now he's got, you know, this big, big, fantastic thing he's decided to do, which is that if he's elected, there's going to be no tax on tips. Well, Cuomo saw the response that he got to that and decided, wow, that's a good policy. I'm going to do that too. Now here's the difference. This, when they hired 88,000 new IRS workers to go after the service industry in large part to make sure that tips were being taxed, it was a 50 to 50 vote in the Senate. And it happened during this administration. When there's a vote in the Senate that's 50 to 50, the vice president casts the tie-breaking vote.

There is a video that you should clip in right here of Kamala Harris hitting that gavel after she says, I vote in the affirmative and pass that to get all those extra IRS agents hired to be the ones who could go after the service industry for not paying taxes on their tips. So what I would tell people is, yes, she is now saying that she will change that policy. If she's elected and you think she's actually going to change the policy, the one that she personally voted to create, I would say that

that is probably very wishful thinking. And if you want to ensure that that policy gets changed, you should vote for Donald Trump on November 5th. That's really going to help a city like Vegas, that policy. Well, it's going to help the whole world. I mean, think about service industries, big time industry. And you have to do it because a lot of the people in the service industry, a lot of times they're not even paid minimum wage because the sort of guaranteed threshold that they are going to earn in tips is something

that the businesses are able to incorporate into their pay. So then they're getting taxed on income that they may or may not earn. And they're being audited as people who aren't necessarily earning six figures or anything like that. This party that says that they're for everyday people. I can't think of a more everyday person than servers, waiters, dealers, in the case of Las Vegas. I mean, those are our citizens. Those are the backbone of the country. And you hired 88,000 people to go after them. And then you said that you're on their side.

How does that make any sense? Speaking of dealers, Celebrity Poker Tour. Come on next week, August 31st. Oh, it's a lot of fun. The Celebrity Poker Tour is unlike anything that's ever existed in the poker space. because you think about the best poker players of all time, people like Phil Ivey. If you're really into poker, it's a cool thing to watch him because he can mentally best anybody, Daniel Negronu, Phil Hellmuth. And by the way, they will say that maybe not Phil, but Negronu, I know, you know, Daniel, uh, Daniel will say without question that Phil Ivey is the best

player of all time, but there's nothing to watch if you're not really into poker you don't even need to know how the game is played to watch a celebrity poker tour and say what am I watching Sophie Dossi goes all in putting her legs over her head and flipping the chips in because she's a America's Got Talent winning contortionist

and you've got this unique environment where Joe Gatto from Practical Jokers can be sitting next to Hayley Welch, who's the Huck to a girl, who could be sitting next to Dwight Howard, who could be sitting next to Austin. I mean, it's this unbelievable collective of people pitted against one another

because the nature of cards is conflict. And so every 90 seconds, there's a new conflict with the most dynamic and unique personalities in the world behind the conflict, and they don't really know how to navigate the conflict. So it's a really interesting thing to watch. And it's been really fun to start.

It's been a blast, man. You've grown quick. I've been very quick. Our first event was six months ago. Our last event had over a million viewers, the largest live poker event of all time. It got more views than the World Series of Poker main event final table. Yep, where Jonathan tamayo won uh uh

you know 10 million dollars and by the way it wasn't even close that got about 200 000 300 000 views we did about a million one million two almost so uh you know people are liking it but the poker world's really not even watching i mean maybe there's a little fraction of our audience it's poker world but it's it's it's the celebrities audiences that are watching. It's because it's like a podcast on steroids. Imagine if you and I were having a dialogue right now, except while we were having that dialogue, we were maybe playing chess or doing something where we were sort of pitted against one another. It might make it harder to answer questions. It might make me say things that I wouldn't be saying as I'm just solely focused on the conversation. And you get that for four hours straight under the lights.

We got 109 cameras shooting it. It is a really high quality production and it's a lot of fun and people like it. Yeah, tune in guys next week. The lineup is stacked on this one. I don't know if you want to reveal any names. Oh, it's fun. Well, Hayley Welch is coming to play,

which I think will be a lot of fun because she's been so big on social media. But we got, you know, Stiney from NELC. We got people like Bryce Hall and Tana Mongeau who are some of the biggest influences in the world. We have people like Mike Bibby and Mario Chalmers and Kendrick Perkins and Dwight Howard and all these fantastic basketball players

who are some of the best that have ever played. And Jose Canseco, you know, you go to baseball, you go to, you know, the actors, people like Blac Chyna, who's just, I mean, she's got 16 or 17 million followers. I mean, but it's very interesting because we don't have a lot of repeats from past events.

So you get this new dynamic and they come in and they're totally amazed because they're like, oh God, I don't really know how to play poker and I'm getting mic'd up and I'm under all these lights and I'm going to be on TV. So they sort of get nervous, but then we get the drinks flowing a little bit. And next thing you know, everyone's come out of their shell and they're their fantastic personalities that they all have. And they just have a good time. Absolutely. Where do you see this thing going? Because the World Series of Poker just got acquired 500 million. Is that in the plans for you? No. I feel very lucky that I've never really started business thinking about, well, can we

get it acquired? Can we do this? Can we do this? I am having the fun of a lifetime right now with this. I wouldn't consider selling it for any amount only from the perspective that we have so many more ideas we haven't even touched yet. You know, I think that what we're going to do is going to take the game of poker to new heights because we're, we're sort of positioning it. We're saying poker is not about gambling. In fact, we don't make our players gamble. We put up a prize pool, but they all get to play for free. We want to take the gambling out of it because that's got a stigma. And that's a side of Las Vegas that makes Vegas what Vegas is. But I want to make CPT bigger than Vegas in the sense that everyone around the world can get behind it. A lot of cultures, they look at gambling and they immediately dismiss it. They

wouldn't give it five seconds of attention. We're not gambling. It's televised conflict. It's a game and it brings people together and people see that, you know, all these friendships that have been formed between the players we have at CPT or even better. I was speaking at a Babson university a couple of months ago and they were telling me a story about how a bunch of the kids in their class, they love the celebrity poker tour. They get together and they put on home games that everyone's invited to on campus. So they have 20 or 30 kids come and they play poker while the game's on the TV.

So they watch this big celebrity poker tour game while they play their own poker game and get to know their classmates, stuff like that. That's what it's about. That's cool. It's creating this sort of a canvas to get to know one another, like what golf does for some people who know how to golf

and can afford to do it, like book clubs, all those kinds of things that bring people together. Poker can be that. You got to treat it like a game though. You can't treat it like financial risk and gambling. And so I think as we reposition the game, I think we'll make it bigger than it's ever been before. Absolutely.

You already broke the record. So let's see where this goes, man. I'm excited for you. I appreciate it. You're a big help. Yeah, dude, thank you. I can't wait to do interviews at this next one. Oh, it's going been before. Absolutely. You already broke the record. So yeah, let's see where this goes, man. I'm excited for you. I appreciate it. You're a big help. Yeah, dude. Thank you. I can't wait to do interviews at this next one. Oh, it's going to be fantastic. One of the players was Austin Eckler, who's also a good friend of yours and you're in a rock band with him. Well, I wouldn't say it's so much a rock band as it is on from time to time. We'll go to his house and I don't, so I don't play any instruments. I'll screw around with like a bass guitar. He's taught

me a little bit of how to play the drums and he plays the guitar very well, which is why that's his air guitar celebration. But Austin Eckler, I mean, you talk about an athlete that's making the most of their opportunity. This guy has built an app off the field. He's got a fantastic foundation. He started a company called Pro Athlete Ventures, which shines light on the ventures of his fellow NFL players. He's one of the people in charge of the NFL Player Association. I mean, this is as well-rounded and intelligent and fantastic

of a human being as exists. It was so lucky to call him a brother. He is so special. And he just got married. That guy has completely won life. And so we have fun when we jam out a little bit when neither of us are that good at music.

We'll see how far he makes it in the next tournament. Yeah. Well, it'd be interesting to see. He's a good poker player. He is? He's a big reason why we started the Celebrity Poker Tour. Really? He and I would take turns hosting a group of six to 10 people

playing home poker games for 50 or 100 bucks. Because like I said, it's not about the money. It's about the environment. So when I say we're playing 50 to 100 bucks, I'm not trying to say it's not a lot of money. But when the players are people like Austin Eckler who earns seven or eight million dollars a year, Chum Lee from Pawn Stars, Shane Victorino from the World Series Champion, we had a great group that we'd play all the time. Finally, I said, guys, look how into it we are for

50 bucks. Imagine if this was being filmed, the world would love to watch this. And so that was really what started the idea for Celebrity Poker Tour was the games that Austin and I would put together. I love that, dude. That's so cool. It sounds really pure, actually. Very pure. Very, very, it's just meant to create a space where you can meet people, get to know one another,

have fun, have laughs, be a little competitive. Absolutely. Because people love being competitive, especially these kinds of people. These people are winners. You got to think, I mean, these people, whether they define themselves as competitive or not, or have essentially done the best in competition of anybody. If you're in the NFL, there's 1500 of you. There's millions of people that play football. You know, you're a famous actor.

A lot of people want to act. You're the one that's broke through, you know? And so, and you can go down making those same analogies for really any industry. So they're all competitive. So you put cards in front of them. They them, they get into it. Oh, yeah. So your uncle Steve Wynn, king of hospitality in Vegas, what has he done to change the landscape of Vegas, in your opinion? Half that skyline is because of him. You know what I mean?

The Bellagio, the Mirage, the Treasure Island, Golden Nugget, the Wynn, Encore, even the Monte Carlo, way back when people don't really know he was heavily involved in i think the thing that uh the way that he'll put it is he says you know when you come to the desert of las vegas and it's hot and stuff like that if you close your eyes and you open them again and now you see something your eye wasn't expecting to see you're immediately curious so when you come to the heat of the desert and next thing thing you know, it looks like Lake Como, which is what Bellagio is based upon. Or you go to the wind and you see all these handwoven carpets and crystal chandeliers from Italy and France and all over Europe, and it's a beautiful place and everything like that.

You're so intrigued by what you can possibly experience there. And you sort of forget about your everyday life. You forget about your struggles. Even almost to the degree that you could forget what's going on right now when you think about what the Democrats have caused. You can almost forget what's going on that much when you're in those buildings, because it's meant to be like adult Disneyland. You can eat the best food in the world. You can have the most fun. You can see the best shows. You stay in prettiest rooms and you know there's other hotels that have come along now who have tried to create their own version of that but i don't think there's anything in the world like the wind i still think it's number one in vegas dude it well and financially it is um and you

know and then there's a wind palace in macau which is debatably even bigger and nicer wow i haven't heard of that one yeah oh it's fantastic it's fantastic. Damn. Got to check that out. Yeah. Yeah. Your uncle changed the game, dude. What's, what's some big lessons? Were you really close with him when he was doing this? Uh, well, I was pretty young when he was doing this, you know, the win opened in 2005, I was five. So, uh, I would say, yes, I was close with him then, but I was five. Um, we've gotten really, really close over the last handful of years. And that's when he's really been able to sort of sit me down and explain the, really the intelligent thought that goes into everything. You know, like as an example, I'll give you one

sense of how detail oriented this guy is. Like when he was picking the chairs to go into one particular restaurant in the, in the, in the hotel, He had all these different companies come. He must have lined up 300 or 400 chairs in his driveway. And he woke up, he went out the driveway and he sat in every last chair until he picked, okay, this chair is gonna be good for this place. This chair sucks. This chair has good lumbar support.

I want the arms. But I've had the luxury as someone who's really, the Celebrity Poker Tour and our events business, Enclave & Key, a lot of the businesses that we do, they're really a different version of the hospitality business. They're not hotels, but we're catering to VIPs. We want to make sure everybody's comfortable. We throw a lot of dinners and what have you. And so, I mean, I've had four-hour conversations with him about what it takes to set a table correctly. With the centerpiece, you don't want it too high to block the conversation. You want to make sure that

the silverware is like this. You want to make sure the service comes like this. You want to, you know, wow. And, and so when people say, you know, what has he done for you and what opportunity created for you, this is so different. You know, people have the luxury of going online and listening to people like you who can share so much insight about business and Gary Vaynerchuk or Tai Lopez, Grant Cardo, whoever you feel like listening to. But then when you hear it from him in a really long-standing period of time where it's that detail-oriented makes us as folks in the hospitality business really, really powerful because we have that win touch to it. And so I'm very grateful for him for that. Dude, that's insane. Because as consumers, we just show up to the restaurant,

we sit down and eat. We don't think about these things. That's the exact thing that we want you to think, though. We don't want you to think about it. You'll notice at his hotels, there's almost zero right angles. There's a right angle if you got to go to the bathroom. If you got to go to your room, there's a right angle to the elevator. If you want to go to the parking garage, there's a right angle. Besides that, the room flows. There's turns, but they flow.

It's sort of like a parabola. Because subconsciously, you follow a path. You got to make a conscious decision to make a turn. And you're walking. So you feel like it's an effortless thing to explore the property, end up gambling, go to a restaurant, go to a sports book, go to a show. You didn't make any turns. You know what I'm saying? That's crazy. So it's the little things like that

that I can think about it because of him thinking about the turns, the lighting, the smells, the color schemes, the attitude of the employees, which is really 80 or 90% of the equation. Yeah, the attitude. Steve's famous quote, and I do this all the time

whenever I go to his speeches, is 80 to 90% of the guest experience is determined by the way that they're treated by other people because only people can make people happy. And self-esteem is the most powerful thing in human dynamics. And so if you can make someone feel positive self-esteem as a result of an action that they took, they will repeat that action incessantly.

That's like if there should be a Steve Wynn quote the way there's Mark Twain quotes and stuff like that, that's the quote that it should be because it's dead on the money. 10% of that place is the chandeliers. But when you go to those restaurants and they're happy to serve you and they have a smile, when the dealers are striking up conversation with you, they're not – you go to some of these hotels in the strip, you'd feel like the dealers are trying to take your money. They don't talk to you. Right. They pass out the cards. When they they win they scoop your money away real fast they don't crack a smile they don't care if you win or lose the wind dealers they'll hand you a card you have blackjack i know i just busted ah okay they take you know they're they're there to make sure that you're having a one-of-a-kind experience that makes you want to come back they're working on making sure that your self-esteem as a customer is high because on the

back end, their self-esteem is very high because they get to work for the win, the best hotel in the world. He's done a great job with that. A good server, a good waitress can make or break your dining experience. Not only is that true, but to add a layer to that, I said, how important do you think it is to build culture? Because that's really a key dynamic in creating this environment. He says, here's a way of looking at it, Blake. He says, you understand that we have servers and waiters and dealers. He says, we have the same hiring pool of Las Vegas as the Circus Circus does. You know what I mean? I mean, all these hotels, the A-rate properties down to the D-rate ones that are probably a week and a half away from closing, they have the same hiring pool, but you go to the wind and everyone's polished. You go to a place

like, and I'm not trying to bash the circuit service. You pick, there's a number of hotels that are on the decline. They haven't been up kept very well and things like that. And it's not the same experience. You're not treated the same. So, you know, there's the, the, the, the, the notion of understanding human dynamics as being the ultimate key to success is something that he taught me more than anything. And it's the thing that we've implemented the most, which is why I think when you have these celebrities coming to celebrity poker tour, who, by the way, we don't pay them to come, they just come, we don't make them pay to play in the game, but you know, they fly themselves here. They put themselves

in a hotel. They, they go to dinner, they pay for it, or maybe they gamble and get comps or something like that from somebody else. But they're, they're there and they're happy to be there because their self-esteem is attached to our game because they come in, they see all the light stuff. Well, I want to be the one that wins. I want the belt. I want the Louis trophy. I want the 20 grand, you know, and by the way, 20 grand to most people in that room, like I said, they're really not even playing for money. They're playing for pride. And it makes it really interesting to see those dynamics.

When you have these people who are worth 20 million bucks standing up, slapping the table, praying they get a card, just so they can win some fake tournament chips. Really, it's a neat thing to see. Absolutely. You've created a really fun, unique environment, man. I appreciate it. What's your vision for the future of Las Vegas?

Well, I think it's already become one of the best cities in the country. I think it's going to continue to be that. I mean, our population is growing here rapidly. I mean, the rate at which they're building homes, we're getting all the new sports teams. I wouldn't be shocked if we get an NBA announcement here very soon. I wouldn't even be surprised if LeBron has a piece of that team, which I think will make that much more buzz behind the team. But it's adult Disneyland in the form of a city,

and it provides so much opportunity, and it's such a, for the most part, such a well-run state. Governor Lombardo making sure that we don't have state income tax, so it becomes a really attractive place for new businesses to come here. You know, uh, the fact that we have an international airport that runs smoothly, you know, is great because it makes everyone in the world can come here really almost nonstop from almost anywhere. Um, you know, I mean the, the level of entertainment that you can see anywhere, you know, there's not a performer who skips coming to Vegas. If they go on tour, there's now almost within eight years, there's not going to be a

single sport that doesn't come here. And then by the way, not only are those sports going to come here, but their biggest games are going to come here. We already had the Superbowl. We've had the NFL draft. We had the NHL draft this year. Now we've got the sphere, which is probably going to produce Dana White is dead set on the idea that the best live sporting event of all time is going to take place on the 14th when ufc goes to the sphere and i believe him that guy that guy is a no-nonsense guy and i know what kind of money he's spent to pull this off so i think that's going to be fantastic and really the ufc is based here i mean there's so much fantastic opportunity best restaurants all the top chefs in the world would love to come here and have a restaurant open here.

So I think if you live in Las Vegas, I think you live in as great of a city as you could possibly live in. And I don't think that's going to change for a very, very long time. Absolutely. I love it here, man. What's next for you, CPT,

and where can people find you, man? At BlakeWin on Instagram. I'm not a super public person, at least not yet. Um, but I definitely recommend checking out the celebrity poker tour at celebrity poker tour on, on, on every social media, definitely watch the next event, August 31st, where you'll be there. You'll be doing a bunch of interviews, which is going to be fantastic. Um, but that's, that's really what's next. I want to continue to do my, my part to sort of redefine people's expectations when they think about some specific. And in this case, my focus is poker right now. Love it, brother. Thanks for coming

on again. Yeah. Thanks for having me, Sean. Thanks for watching guys. As always, see you next time.