Years ago, Derek Stevens, a Detroit auto parts manufacturing company owner, was enthralled by the excitement he experienced visiting Las Vegas during major sports events.
He was having the time of his life, never realizing he would one day use that exhilaration to create game-changing casinos with their hearts in sports and a distinct downtown Vegas vibe.
He took that feeling of excitement and created Circa Resort & Casino, a bold brand approach in downtown Las Vegas with the world’s largest sports book, the “Stadium Swim” aqua theater, a spectacular rooftop lounge, and the biggest football contest payouts on the planet.
Derek Stevens has grown into one of Las Vegas’s most influential independent casino owners. As the force behind Golden Gate, the D, and Circa Resort & Casino, Stevens blends bold execution with dynamic hands-on leadership and a strategy for bringing back “grown-up” Vegas. He embraces Vegas’s mythic past and produces winning properties with one-of-a-kind wow features.
A wow sports destination
“Back in my younger days, coming out to Vegas, I would come out for a big boxing match. I remember the electricity that Vegas had during those events. I remember coming out to watch boxing matches, Super Bowls or to watch wild card weekends.
“I thought Las Vegas was just such a great environment if you’re a sports fan. I remember going over to the Las Vegas Hilton and walking into Caesar’s Palace. I remember saying to myself, having my own wow moment that I’ll never forget, like ‘Man, I just walked into the greatest place on earth. I love this.’
“And later, I thought that sports fans were a little bit underserved and I wanted to create something that reminded me of what it was like to come to Vegas for those events. I thought there was a market for sports destination. And that’s why we designed Circa the way we did,” Stevens said.
With that inspiration, Stevens created Circa Resort & Casino, a game-changing, sports-centric resort that was the first ground up constructed casino in downtown Las Vegas in over 40 years.
As their web site declares, “Circa is the conduit between the Las Vegas of yesterday and the Las Vegas of tomorrow.”
Pivotal role
Derek Stevens is the owner and CEO of Circa Resort & Casino, the D Las Vegas, Golden Gate Hotel & Casino, Circa | Sports, and Downtown Las Vegas Events Center. Stevens played a pivotal role in the revitalization of downtown Las Vegas by investing in the redevelopment of several properties throughout the area and transforming them into thriving Fremont Street entertainment experiences.
“I grew up in Detroit. I have a business in Detroit that I’m partnering with my brother. We wanted to diversify in 2006, 20 years ago, and effectively moved our investment portfolio to Nevada. That had to do with not having an income tax in the state of Nevada.
“I run the investment portfolio, and Rio hotel was on the American Stock Exchange at one point; and then we purchased the debt on Riviera, and that worked out pretty well. Then, in 2006, we purchased 50% of the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino in Vegas,” Stevens said.
Sports team owner and insight
Stevens owned a AAA baseball team in Las Vegas for six years, and that gave him insight into Vegas as a growing major league sports mecca – an insight that helped create his sports-centric strategy.
“In 2006, when I bought the Golden Gate, the triple A baseball team was up for sale. I did purchase the triple A baseball team here in Las Vegas at just about the same time.
“I always thought Vegas was a town that was really underserved in major league sports, because there was this thought process that sports gambling was a negative.
“During my six years of owning the triple A baseball team, that just reaffirmed my position. I always thought Vegas was a city that was ready for major league sports more than most because you also have a market that doesn’t get calculated.
“In my opinion, that’s the tourist market. Remember that Las Vegas has 160,000 hotel rooms. So, you’re basically getting 320,000 additional residents every weekend. And the residents who come to Vegas, they’re all going out on the town. So, you know, I’ve always thought that Vegas had the ability to support major league sports and very clearly, based upon the Golden Knights and now the Raiders, that’s the case,” Stevens stated.
Shorts, flip flops, and a gaming education
Golden Gate – Las Vegas’ original hotel-casino dating back to 1906 – was Stevens’ and his brother’s first investment in downtown Las Vegas in 2008. Attracted to its storied history, Stevens led Golden Gate through several major renovations – including the addition of a five-story luxury tower with 16 suites, an expanded casino floor with a high-limit gaming area, two premium penthouses and extended outdoor bars.
With vintage neon and classic cocktail service, they restored the old-school charm to renew Golden Gate’s legacy while modernizing operations.
Stevens told me that luck entered into the picture several times while he was experiencing casino development in Las Vegas.
“There was a period of time where I was looking to diversify our business. I visited a number of different locations and walked into Golden Gate. And the day that I was there, I was able to run into that owner, and that owner was looking for a partner. It was something where all the stars aligned.
“I’m still a good friend with the owner. We’ve subsequently purchased 100% of Golden Gate. I still see him regularly. I still consider him a mentor of mine. Everything came to light. It was fortunate. I walked into the Golden Gate with my buddies wearing a t shirt, flip flops, and lo and behold, that particular day the owner’s executive assistant was on vacation, and I somehow got lucky enough to talk to him, and we hit it off. And you know, I guess the rest is history,” Stevens said.
Golden Gate was Stevens’ first casino operations experience.
“I knew coming into a new industry, you better walk in with open eyes and some humility. It gave me an opportunity to learn a little bit about the beverage business, the hotel business, the table games business, the slot machine business, and then we were able to make some investments to upgrade Golden Gate to 2006 standards. We were able to bring a lot of new slot machines, and a new slot system. That was a good start,” Stevens related.
The D Las Vegas
Stevens then acquired Fitzgeralds Hotel and Casino in 2011. In October 2012, after a complete renovation and rebranding, he debuted the D Las Vegas, which became a downtown hotspot. Amongst other offerings, guests enjoy the D’s unique two-level casino, which features a distinct theme on each floor: a high-energy party atmosphere on the first level and a throwback vintage casino on the second.
He also imported two restaurants from his hometown: Detroit’s iconic American Coney Island and Joe Vicari’s Andiamo Italian Steakhouse, a classic steakhouse delivering a new caliber of fine dining to the area. The 38-story property boasts 629 rooms and suites and is home to LONGBAR – the ultimate sports-viewing destination.
The LONGBAR is born
Looking for a wow feature for the D Las Vegas, Stevens found that his long wall bar was not just a sports viewing spectacle, but a record breaker.
“When we purchased it, we knew we were going to renovate Fitzgerald’s. We knew we were going to rebrand it, and we wanted to bring in a signature feature, and we had a wall that was very long, and created the longest video poker bar. Trying to come up with the name, we decided we’re going to call it LONGBAR, which was rather self-explanatory, and it was a massive hit, and still is to this day. We figured out that we were the longest bar west of the Mississippi,” Stevens recounted.
Better use
In 2014, Stevens acquired the former Clark County Courthouse building and used the land to create Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, a versatile outdoor sports and entertainment venue downtown hosting major concerts, sporting events, viewing parties, festivals and more. The venue can accommodate up to 11,000 guests and features state-of-the-art stage, sound and lighting.
“That was a building that had been abandoned, and it was owned jointly by the city and by the county. It took up a whole city block, and it went to auction, and we were able to purchase it and demolish it and put it to better use, which we’ve used for our festival grounds and events,” Stevens said.
One thing led to another
Stevens’ fortunate development streak played out in a big way when he started purchasing the decades-old Las Vegas Club.
“Our initial acquisition was of a casino by the name of the Las Vegas Club, and it was a casino that had been in Vegas for probably 40 years or so. It took up about half of the city block that Circa is currently located on. There were eight other buildings and businesses on the city block, which is a full Las Vegas city block. Once we bought Las Vegas Club, we thought, ‘Let’s talk to the next business owner and see what’s happening. And lo and behold, one thing led to the next, and we were able to purchase a couple more of the small businesses, and then there’s a parking garage, and then another small business. There was a small casino, which I thought we would never be able to purchase, a little slot parlor, but that owner was ready to move out of state, even though it had been in his family for 60 years. He said we could purchase it.
“One little thing after the next happened, and we were able to purchase all of the businesses and buildings on that city block. And once that happened, that’s when it really opened up the door to the opportunity thing. We thought this could be a much bigger project than we originally planned. This isn’t just a renovation of Las Vegas Club. This is a whole new deal,” Stevens said.
Garage Mahal
“Boyd had property across the street on their Main Street Station property. I said, I’m going to tell you what I’m thinking about doing here, but for me to do this, I need a little more land to build a parking garage slash transportation hub. We signed some NDAs, and they took a look at it. They thought, if we built this, it would be great for their three casino resorts located in downtown Vegas.
“They were right about that, and we built this parking garage, and it helps bring a lot of people to downtown,” Stevens recalled. Operating today as Garage Mahal, Circa’s web site calls it: “The most high-tech transportation hub in Las Vegas, Garage Mahal easily accommodates ride sharing, valet, self-parking and long-term parking for loyal Circa guests.”
Iconic sign story
Stevens related another fortunate story about how he lucked into owning one of Vegas’s most iconic neon signs.
“There was a defunct strip club, and I had nothing to do with the strip club. What was cool about the strip club is that outside the strip club it had this very famous and iconic sign called Vegas Vickie. When we purchased the defunct strip club, we took great care to make sure we brought the original sign down off of the building, and that’s what we subsequently refurbished, and now Vegas Vickie is a signature feature inside of Circa,” Stevens beamed.
Creating wow experiences
I asked Stevens about his thinking while planning the first ground up casino resort built in Las Vegas in over 40 years.
“The one thing I learned about from being on the board of the Fremont Street Experience since 2006 is that downtown only has 6,000 hotel rooms out of 160,000 hotel rooms in Las Vegas. So, you have to do something that is a signature feature that makes people want to visit you. Fremont Street Experience this year will be visited by about 24 million visitors. That’s the second most visited tourist destination in America, after Times Square.
“How does Fremont Street Experience do it? Well, they do it by having three different stages, three different concerts that are free seven nights a week. And they do it with this unbelievable overhead HD canopy, with shows and music and an outdoor walking area that’s pedestrian friendly. It’s clean, safe and, again, it’s the second most visited tourist destination in America.
“So, I knew that when I designed Circa, I wanted to make sure that we created elements that were the wow experiences. For example, as a sports fan, I wanted to make sure that whether someone stayed at my place or at Circus Circus or at Caesar’s Palace or at the Wynn or at MGM, if you’re a sports fan, what would it take for you to come and visit our place?
“And I always thought the world’s largest sports book would do that, and that’s the first signature key point. I wanted to build the world’s largest sports book. In the last 30 years, sports books were treated as an amenity within a large hotel. I wanted sports fans that came to Vegas to make sure they visited our place. So, the world’s largest sports book was check number one.
“Number two, I wanted to have a pool experience that was special. You know, Las Vegas has 335 days of sunshine. I grew up in Detroit, and there wasn’t a lot of sun between Thanksgiving and opening day. So, for our pool area I wanted to do something that was spectacular. I was not trying to build the best pool downtown. I was not trying to build the best pool in Las Vegas. I was trying to build the best pool or aqua theater in the history of the world.
“I wanted anybody that came to Vegas to be able to check out Stadium Swim, which has six separate pool areas and a 143-foot theater screen. We’re open year-round, seven days a week. It’s not just a summertime or springtime type of thing. You know, in December and January it’s like the largest hot tub party in the country. I wanted to do something where we could utilize the sunshine of Las Vegas, like I said, the 335 days of sunshine.
“Stadium Swim has a capacity of a couple thousand people, and then over the course of a day we might do three, four or five thousand people a day at Stadium Swim. And I thought that would be a great destination.
“You know, 90% of our business at Stadium Swim comes from people staying at other hotels. It’s the wow.
”And then, we wanted to create a rooftop lounge that I thought was pretty spectacular. I’d been fortunate. I had the opportunity to visit a number of great rooftop cities. Miami Beach is a great rooftop city. New York City is a great rooftop city. New Jersey has some great rooftop bars and LA. I really thought, with our location being central to the Las Vegas Valley, that the rooftop at Circa could be the greatest rooftop in Las Vegas.
“That was the path we went down on design. We wanted to have the greatest rooftop in Vegas. And I think that is what’s been achieved with the Legacy Club. You have an unencumbered view of the whole city. You get an unencumbered view of the Red Rock mountains. The sunsets in Vegas are pretty spectacular as well. So, you have the greatest sunset location, and then you get to see the whole city light up right before your eyes after the sun sets.
“I just think that the days of developing and designing an all-encompassing resort is a strategy of the past. People nowadays want to see a lot of Las Vegas. We wanted to fit into that mode and design so we could be one of the stops, one of the things that someone visiting Vegas has to see, whether it’s for the rooftop Legacy Club, or for Stadium Swim, or for the World’s Largest Sports Book,” Stevens stated.
Opening Circa
In 2020, Stevens debuted Circa Resort & Casino, an adults-only casino resort. Circa was the first major resort to open downtown in 40 years. The property boasts 618 rooms and a collection of amenities, including the World’s Largest Sportsbook featuring multi-level, stadium-style seating and a capacity of 1,000; Stadium Swim, a destination pool amphitheater open 365 days a year; a range of eclectic restaurants; the longest outdoor bar on Fremont Street Experience; a chic rooftop lounge, Legacy Club; and a two-level casino with state-of-the-art slot and table gaming options.
Adults-only
Stevens and his team opened Circa as an adult-only property. I asked him about the thinking behind that unique decision.
“The reason we did that was because we felt that we could make a trade. And that trade was that we would give up business that includes under 21. So, effectively, we would give up parents coming with their under 21-year-old children and will give up some hotel room revenue, will give up some restaurant revenue, and give up some Stadium Swim revenue; but it’s only a little bit. But what we’re going to do, in turn, is we’re going to create far and away the best customer service situation you’re going to find in Las Vegas.
“We have a better reputation and really focus on the customer service component. By giving up a little bit of revenue that included the under-21s, we felt that that was a good trade off. We also felt that this was something that our competitors were never going to be able to do. We felt it was a good differentiator,” Stevens said.
Largest legal football contest in the world
To add to his sports strategy, Stevens operates two of the biggest football contests on the planet and this year added a third, Circa Grandissimo.
There are three primary sports contests: Circa Sports Million VII Pro Football Contest, with $6 million in guaranteed prizes; Circa Sports Survivor Pro Football Contest, “One Survivor $15 Million Guaranteed”; and the newly-created Circa Grandissimo Pro Football Contest, “$100,000 Entry Survivor Contest.”
“In 2019 I knew I wanted to get into football contests. I thought that football contests could create some great buzz, some great marketing and get people excited about your brand. I always went in with a thought process to create the biggest football contest ever. We put a couple little tweaks in some of these contests. Mainly we added quarterly prizes. And number two, we didn’t take any commission. We took no rake. I think the combination of those two things really helped accelerate the growth of the Circa Million contest.
“A year later, we produced a brand-new contest, something that never happened in Las Vegas before. We called it Circa Survivor, and boy, it just took off. I mean, it has superseded Circa Million after three years. And you know, the last couple of years it has been the largest legal football contest in the world.
“Last year we guaranteed a $10 million payout, but it came in at $14.2 million. So, all that money went back into the prize pool. This year we bumped it again. This year we’re guaranteeing $15 million and if it goes over $15 million, it just means the prize pool is going to get bigger. Never in my life did I dream that we would have a $15 million prize pool over a football contest, but it works out pretty well.
“And under the regulations of the state of Nevada, you have to sign up in person. So, for us, the football contests are something that creates a lot of buzz and it gives us a reason to get people on property, and hopefully I get a certain percentage of them to want to come back and become customers,” Stevens said.
“A lot of customers said they wanted to get into a higher stake Circa Survivor. I was reluctant to do that, because I didn’t want to do something that could cannibalize Circa Survivor. So, we’re going way over the top. A $100,000 entry fee is a completely different animal than a $1,000 entry fee. So currently we have 11 entrances into Grandissimo. I have a number of people that have set up their appointments for the month of August, so we’re hopeful that we will get to 15 entrances, which will go over a million five, and if it goes over, that’s great. That’s just more in the pot for the first-year participants,” Stevens declared.
A mixed bag
With gigantic payouts at stake, I asked Stevens if his football contests were usually won by advantage players.
“It’s a mixed bag. We had a group of two brothers, a brother-in-law and a buddy, who were as far away from pros as you could possibly get. And they won Circa Million. They had the best percentage handicapping of the year, not pros at all.
“Last year in Circa Survivor we had four winners that went undefeated the whole season, one of which was a group of buddies. They all work for Hormel. They were all meat salesmen. They named themselves the Meatball Brothers. They weren’t even from the same hometown. They all got to know each other through sales conventions. I can guarantee these fellas are not professional gamblers. I would say it’s trended more towards leisure football fans. The pros don’t necessarily have a leg up on the rest of the crew,” Stevens said.
Pluses and minuses
Having interviewed Gary Ellis of Ellis Island Casino and Kenny Epstein of El Cortez for Faces of Gaming, I asked Stevens what it was like being one of the handful of independent casino resort operators remaining in Las Vegas.
“I’ve talked to Kenny about that, I’ve talked to Gary Ellis, and I’ve talked to our team about it. There are pluses and minuses to being a corporate business versus being a privately held business. Because we’re privately held, I want to focus on some of the advantages. I think we can make decisions more quickly, which I generally think is a good thing. You can react to markets and things more quickly. I think that’s an advantage as a privately held business. But on the other end, the big guys have the money to bring in big brands and do things that we can’t do and have more access to capital.
“I would say the independent guys like Ellis Island, or the El Cortez, or Circa, and the D actually add some unique value to Vegas that Caesars and Wynn and MGM actually appreciate as well, “Stevens said.
Steve Wynn and getting in
Stevens said that he first purchased 50% of his first property, Golden Gate Hotel and Casino for $7.5 Million. He recalled what Steve Wynn told him years ago about the cost of getting into gaming in Las Vegas.
“He said one of the concerns he had was that gaming was getting so expensive that it was going to start limiting some of the newer, younger guys to get into this industry. Maybe I snuck in just before some of these prices went through the roof. Because now, prices are far higher.
“It would be a lot harder to work your way up today than I think it was 20 years ago. So, I echo some of Steve Wynn’s comments,” Stevens said.
Circa Sports
I asked about Circa Sports, the sports betting company that Stevens is expanding.
”We’re currently in five states – Nevada, Illinois, Iowa, Colorado and Kentucky – with Circa Sports and we are going to use our model to get into additional states. That’s a good thing. I’m excited about it. Just this morning, we opened up a large new sports book in a Kentucky casino. I’m excited about that. We want to continue to grow our Circa Sports business around the country and we want to continue our visitation in Las Vegas with our properties here,” Stevens stated.
Early and late
I asked Derek Stevens what he thought contributed to his success.
“I will tell you, number one is just show up. Yeah, show up early and stay late. That is definitely my mantra to everybody. If you’re not willing to put hours in, you’re probably not going to give yourself a fair shot. So, my deal is, show up, show up early, stay late. That would be my number one. And then after that, pray for some luck.”
Entries in the Faces of Gaming series:
- Circa owner Derek Stevens – A sports-specific brand with a downtown Vegas vibe (now reading)
- Phil Satre – Chairman of the Boards
- Michael Kaplan – Writing the book on advantage players, for gambling and for life
- Andrew Cardno — Data Scientist, Dyslexic, Taekwondo Master, Author, Futurist, A Modern Renaissance Man Who Really Should be Dead
- Dr. Katherine Spilde – There’s no place like home
- Mattress Mack – Furniture mogul, marketing genius, sports betting champ
- Jeff Connor, owner of Lockdogs – A better mousetrap
- Antonio Perez – An optimistic realist
- Kara Napolitano – Human rights advocate and trafficking expert
- Next Gaming CEO and skill-based slots evangelist Mike Darley
- Dennis Conrad – Executive, founder, creator, speaker, author, columnist, and innovator
- Adam Wiesberg – A journey from sign salesman to dealer to El Cortez GM
- Gary Ellis – Las Vegas entrepreneur
- Alan Feldman – From Mirage and MGM to responsible gaming expert
- John Acres – the Thomas Edison of gaming
- Alex Alvarado — Vice President, Casino Operations at MGM National Harbor and Casino Aficionado
- Lauren Bates — A successful VP at Konami and Chair of Global Gaming Women, all before her 40th birthday
- TJ Tejeda and EZ Baccarat – Reimagining a centuries-old game
- Chris Andrews — Don’t cry for the bookmaker
- Wes Ehrecke — From gasohol and pork chops to president of the Iowa Gaming Association
- Steve Browne – Casino philosopher, master gaming instructor and father of a rocket scientist
- Noah Acres – Shaking up the industry one player record at a time
- Kate Chambers – ICE queen, casino exhibition maven and keeper of fairy dust
- Joe Asher — From the newsstand and racetrack to sports-betting icon
- Paul Speirs-Hernandez — Randomness, chance, reward, and luck
- Ainsworth’s Deron Hunsberger — From finance and sales to president
- Roger Gros — Chronicler of the gaming industry for four decades and counting
- Debi Nutton — Everi board member, gaming trailblazer
- Cache Creek’s Kari Stout-Smith — Dancing backwards in high heels
- Andrew Economon — Making downtown Las Vegas cool again
- Richard Marcus — From the wrong side of the casino tables to the right
- Willy Allison — From New Zealand bloke to world game-protection leader
- Tom Jingoli — From gaming enforcement agent to COO of Konami Gaming
- Tino Magnatta — Interviewing the interviewer, 3,000 and counting since COVID
- Deana and Brady Scott — Still talking shop with the owners of Raving Consulting
- Kevin Parker — “Putting everything into everything I do”
- Laura Penney — Putting in the Work as CEO of Coeur d’Alene Casino
- Andre Carrier — Paying it forward
- Jean Scott — The original casino influencer, still frugal gambling after all these years
- Anika Howard — From Harrah’s First Interactive Employee to CEO of Wondr Nation
- Anthony Curtis — Gambling Guru, Las Vegas Expert, Customer Advocate with Street Cred
- Mark Wayman — An executive recruiter with a brand and something to say
- Melonie Johnson — From rural Louisiana to resort-casino leadership
- Brian Christopher — From actor, Uber driver, and cater waiter to slot celebrity
- Allan Solomon — From accountant and tax lawyer to pioneering casino owner
- Kenny Epstein — A Niche from Nostalgia
Tom Osiecki is a casino consultant who writes an occasional column for CDC Gaming called Faces of Gaming, about interesting and engaging people in the gaming industry.
Tom Osiecki is a marketing and management consultant for Raving Consulting and can be reached for consulting engagements at 775-329-7864.
If you know of a fascinating personality in the gaming industry you would like to see profiled, please send Tom Osiecki an email at tosiecki@cdcgaming.com
