Downtown Las Vegas casino owner Derek Stevens decided the 2018 Global Gaming Expo was the perfect setting to announce he was launching a sports betting business.

Five months earlier, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowed states to legalize and regulate sports betting. By the time G2E rolled around, a half-dozen states had joined Nevada in offering legal sports betting.

Meanwhile, Stevens was in the early stages of developing Circa Resort & Casino, downtown’s first from-the-ground-up hotel-casino in nearly four decades. Ahead of the opening of the property’s showcase three-level Circa Sportsbook, the D Las Vegas and Golden Gate sportsbooks became the launchpad for Circa Sports, which includes a mobile sports wagering app.