Undoubtedly much to the surprise of some readers (to say nothing of my own), I had a very long and cordial conversation this morning with Jeff Simpson of the Las Vegas Sun/In Business Las Vegas. We agreed to disagree on a number of things, such as the frequency of as-told-to columns that convey the latest words to fall from the lips of a certain Steve Wynn (whose increasingly despotic ways are gradually eclipsing his creative genius, one of the few to manifest itself in the casino industry).

Simpson wanted it known that he’s a "penny-ante player" who’s partial to locals casinos and hasn’t played at Wynn Las Vegas in over a year. So, contrary to my assumptions of last week (and we all know what happens when we assume), his opinions about the tip-confiscation system at Chez Steve — while 180 degrees removed from my own — are not colored by any ongoing experiences as a player there.

As long as Wynn is going to be a regular feature in the Sun, there are a few questions I’d like to see put to him.

Such as: What is the basis for his in-your-face contention that tip money belongs to him and not to tipped employees? (Or, as he put it to a group of dealers, "It’s my money and I’ll do with it whatever I damn well please.")

Are they really leaving the toke boxes unlocked at Wynn Las Vegas? If so, that’s an Rx for trouble.

If Wynn can explain his tip-confiscation rationale so rationally to Simpson, then why does he communicate it to his employees via shouting, table-pounding and threats of retaliation, not unlike a petulant child who isn’t getting his way?

If responsibility to one’s shareholders is so paramount, why did Wynn award himself a salary increase at a time when his company is losing money? That doesn’t sound like "pay for performance."

And if Wynn does have the money to fatten his own pay envelope, why couldn’t he afford to raise pit bosses and boxmen to parity with dealers (after tips)?

And, finally, here’s one the dealers would like answered: What’s happening to the interest income that’s being earned on the toke money while it sits in the bank? A former Hard Rock dealer told me that, under Peter Morton’s regime, the HRH offered them a choice of keeping the interest money themselves or donating it to charity, and they chose the latter.

So, if tip money from Wynn is compounding interest over at Bank of America or wherever, who’s keeping it? If you’re confiscating people’s tips and then using them to make extra money for yourself, that sounds precisely like the "direct benefit" companies are not allowed to derive under Nevada law.