Derek Stevens talks about Downtown Las Vegas.

What a fascinating entrepreneur who is changing the landscape downtown, imo, for the better. I believe his moves will accelerate other downtown casinos to enhance their resort/casino experience. Exciting stuff.

https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2019/10/09/casino-mogul-derek-stevens-talks-changing-downtown-las-vegas/3911313002/

 

He has done a lot for downtown.
I am sure he has some employees that hate him, but you'll have that.
I don't care for the loud music in his casinos.
The eye candy does not hurt.
I do like the free room offers and match play and food comps.
You can't have it all.

 

I still await his take on the non-gamblers who will be between his properties and interacting with “his” clientele. The hucksters and lower life seem to be the biggest drawback to the occasional visitor from the strip and that won’t change. Just wonder if his “policing” of the foot traffic will.

 

I believe Derek will do what it takes to bring in high rollers, as well as people like me , but not sure if it's possible to "clean up" downtown. You do raise a good question....it'll be interesting to watch.

https://sportshandle.com/derek-stevens-circa-las-vegas/

 

Derek is a gift to Vegas fans. I've spoke on this before, but it's a real miracle to see the old LVC block being revitalized into a new ground up casino resort. Getting all of those disparate properties pooled together from different owners AND coming up with the capital to build a billion dollar resort in a district that has only made baby steps in development since Sundance opened in 1980 is just remarkable.

In any other alternate timeline, it would have descended into a low rent retail black hole. If you read the backstory, I believe that LVC was already on the way to being sold to a company like Walgreens and Derek stepped in and stopped it. That's what I read at the time so take it for what it's worth. LVC was already partially converted to a gift shop so even if that rumor is false, there was still evidence of where that block was headed.

To the degree that this is true, he may have saved Fremont Street. If the Circa experiment pans out, the dumb money will follow the smart money and you'll see other developments. Nothing drives investment like a real world example to prove viability.

It could be a big turning point for Downtown in the same way that the Mirage was a big turning point for The Strip.

 

And Derek Stevens "does what he says". I mentioned this to him this past year when I met him at the Longbar. I recalled that at the 2014/2015 NYE party (which I attended) he admitted that the elevators at the D were substandard. he went on to promise that (paraphrasing), "it may take some time, but it will get fixed".

We've all heard that before, right? Well almost immediately after that, he had people starting on the elevator project, and shortly thereafter two new elevator shafts were built, and a "state of the art" elevator control system was put in.

The D elevator system is "funky" when you first look at it, but once you get used to it, IMHO, it beats any high capacity elevator system around.

 

I spent a couple weeks there in 2016, and I thought the elevator system was really good.

I remember seeing lots of people moan about it, but couldn't work out the problem.

 

I'd like to be a patron of the D, but just can't take the music volume. I fear that once Circa opens, it will be the same. Staying at Cal, it would be just across the street and something very new and different that I will certainly try. I have high hopes.

 

as a millenial and a sports junkie, i still am shocked at circa's focus on the sports book and communally watching games. i don't see the value in it from a cost per sq foot perspective. to me the sports book is an antiquated idea based on technology and how people like to watch games (not with others).
clearly stevens is zigging when others are zagging.
one of us will be right.

 

I get your point, but he's also betting that he can be the #1 book to ~5-10k rooms that are downtown, not just a book for his properties. I think he's attempting to "fix" what he views as downtown's two biggest weaknesses: not enough good pools and sports books.

My guess is he's also planning to have some Lagasse Stadium/THE BOOK style premium accommodations that are supposed to pay their own way.

 

i see your point in that he wants the go to sports book. but my point was this is like being the tallest midget- like who cares if it isn't generating $ at the same rate per sq foot that a slot machine, craps table, or restaurant would?
perhaps a better armchair economist than myself can demonstrate how pools and sports book generate $ at a higher clip than other things. i just don't see it.
to me stevens is certainly filling a gap. that's not debatable. but the $ generated by these moves, and the future generations desire for these (pool and sports book) is very much debatable.

 

I think the concern is valid. With more and more states allowing sports gambling, it is hard to see how spending a ton of money on a sports book footprint is cost efficient. On the flip side, I am guessing he is betting on the Raiders being in town as a possible 'juice' to the local sports books. Since there are not really enough Raiders fans in LV to justify a team, a lot of people in the industry are banking on those 8 weekends a season being full of tourists, and with those tourists come possible money that was not there before. There is also a hope that with the new stadium will also come the occasional Super Bowl in LV, which would be HUGE for the city.

Personally I think they will see minimal increase as the regular visitors to Vegas will avoid NFL weekends due to the overpricing of rooms and, well, Raiders fans descending on the city for two days.

 

No offense, but my bet is on Stevens. I'd be shocked if he hadn't done his due diligence, but who the hell knows? Cheers!

 

I don't disagree with your point, especially given the rise of mobile betting. It feels like sports books will likely decline in size over time, and the bets will move to apps and kiosks.

I suspect he might say that he has enough land to justify the investment - there's only so much land you can fill with hotel rooms and gaming. It's not like he's putting a pool directly on Fremont St.

 

I do love a nice sports book and have spent plenty on VIP seating and pods in the past... but with it becoming more popular (and cheaper) throughout the country, I would not invest in a big sports book in Vegas. I see myself finding better value going elsewhere in the country for my "sports gambling itch" in the next few years.

 

I think we’re going to see a lot of growth in sports gambling. While table games and slots seem relatively flat, sports is actually growing. As it’s become more acceptable across the country. ESPN and others now talk about point spreads and totals openly which didn’t happen a few years ago. You’ve got NBA commissioner Adam Silver openly talking about sports betting, unheard of a few years ago. Stevens is betting on a bigger growth in sports betting and he wants to be the premier place in Vegas for sports.

 

One of my favorite things about when Brent Musberger used to do the Saturday night college games for ABC was how he would try to sneak in the point spread on a particularly close, late game. Knowing what he does now it is not a surprise but it was always fun to see how he acknowledged it in a big game.

 

Brent is awesome, he use to the pregame show on CBS NFL that would have Jimmy The Greek on it. They wouldn’t talk about spreads but Jimmy would always say something like Raiders by a field goal to imply they would or wouldn’t cover the spread.


Brent creeping on AJ McCarron girl and mom.

 

I would rather downtown be left unfancified. Fancy means expensive.

 

Yeah...I'm not so certain that downtown is any worse than the strip is...been on a strip cross-over walkway recently? At least downtown is regulated a little bit with the "circle-system".