Derek Stevens

Six years ago, Fitzgeralds Hotel & Casino was your classic downtown Vegas dump, complete with old carpeting, lighting that cast a sickly hue and a cramped corner-bar unfit for sipping even the cheapest draft beer. Down the street, the Golden Gate was famous for being the oldest continually run casino in Vegas—and from the looks of the place, you wouldn't have needed any convincing. A couple of blocks away, the weirdly named Gold Spike was the kind of seedy dive you didn't want to walk past, much less walk into. If you were brave enough to venture a few blocks east of the El Cortez—which wears its retro cachet a lot better now than it did in the early 2000s—you encountered motels that pretty much served as crack dens and hoped you didn't get jumped. That was downtown Las Vegas. No more.

Derek Stevens is a genius at this business. He is the modern day STEVE WYNN, who was the major designer of the present day STRIP. Derek Stevens WILL do the SAME thing in designing modern era Downtown. These properties are being bought by Derek Stevens at pennies in the dollar, ESPECIALLY compared to properties on the STRIP. The D Las Vegas Casino Hotel (formerly Fitzgeralds) is a 34-story, 638-room hotel and casino in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, owned and operated by Derek and Greg Stevens. The D Las Vegas also consists of a dinner theater called Showroom at the D. The D is located at the eastern end of the Fremont Street Experience.

Now that same walk will take you to a well-curated bookstore called The Writer's Block. Or the newly opened Chow restaurant where the Chinese southern fried chicken draws raves. Or a big barn of a shop called 11th Street Records, that specializes in vinyl and doubles as a live music venue, where Brandon Flowers—lead singer of the locally formed but nationally known band The Killers—turns up for surprise solo sets. 'We're not getting J-Lo down here, but we don't want her,' says Ryan Doherty, whose Commonwealth bar was one of the businesses that started downtown's resurgence. 'When we first opened, there was a huge homeless contingent. It's gotten a lot cleaner and safer. I see people pushing strollers through the neighborhood. It's not something that I would have imagined six or seven years ago.'

These days, Fitzgeralds is no more. It has been rebranded and redone as The D, an initial that stands for both Derek and Detroit. In 2011 new owner Derek Stevens, in partnership with his brother Gregory, put $15 million into the place and made it a cool, casual spot for gambling and simply hanging out. It's also a place where you can eat well. Unlikely as it sounds, Andiamo Italian Steak House by Joe Vicari serves some of Vegas's best prime beef in a setting that is comfortably old school, with sequestering banquettes, solicitous waiters and a soundtrack of classical music. The aptly named Long Bar covers one side of the casino and it's where the jaunty, crewcutted Stevens likes to spend his nights. He bets sports, enjoys drinks and will chat you up about whatever games happen to be playing on the monitors that line a back wall. If he didn't own the joint, Stevens would probably nip off to the craps pit, with cash in hand and a smile on his face.

Stevens is playing a major role in turning downtown Las Vegas into the kind of place where you want to spend time. Besides the D, the Stevens brothers also own the Golden Gate, another diamond in the rough that Derek has buffed to a shiny finish. Having made his first fortune in Detroit via the auto parts business, he bought into the Gate in 2008. Initially, the brothers had partnered in the operation with the previous owner, Mark Brandenburg, whose grandfather had been one of 22 Italian Americans to have founded the place. 'There's a photo in the lobby that is a partners' picture from the 1970s,' Stevens tells me. 'It could be an opening shot for the sequel to Goodfellas. It's a great, great photograph.'

Gangsterish nostalgia aside, there wasn't a whole lot else good about the operation when Stevens came along with a vital infusion of cash. 'The casino closed at 10 p.m., which is when I'm used to things ramping up,' says Stevens who, along with his brother, would go on to buy out Brandenburg in 2015 and own the entire place. 'Table games had a limit of $200 and the chips were so old that you could barely tell the red from the green from the black. We replaced those, we started raising the limits and kept the casino open around the clock.' He also livened up the music and installed so-called party pits, where female dealers bare their midriffs and keep the gaming upbeat.

When Stevens first got involved, the Gate had no hosts for drawing players, so he took matters into his own hands. A regular customer at Bellagio and Paris casinos, Stevens buddied up with Strip limo drivers and incentivized them to bring him business. 'I gave drivers my card and told them that anytime they dump somebody at my place I would give them a 20,' he remembers, reveling in the home-brewed nature of it all. 'They'd call to tell me a customer was coming, I'd wait at the door, hand the driver a 20 and shake the customer's hand. Then I'd bring him inside and buy him a drink. We'd talk a little bit and hopefully he'd gamble. Steve Wynn might have done that when he owned the Golden Nugget down here. But up at his [current] place, on the Strip, he's dealing with a lot more zeros. I saw the personal touch as a huge opportunity, a way to do things that they can't do on the Strip. We used paper and pencil to keep track of how many people were coming into the casino. It was all pretty easy.'

Stevens has since refined his approach. He lets the gamblers find him at the Long Bar—easy to spot, he's usually wearing a flashy sport jacket, having learned 'subtlety doesn't pay in Las Vegas'—and they can play for $5,000 a hand if they feel like it. Still hungry for growth and not shy about publicity, Stevens recently purchased the old Vegas Club, a shuttered casino where business had tanked and the asbestos needed to be removed. It once stood as a downtown landmark and Stevens hopes to bring back its former glory and then some. It's been reported that he and his brother paid $40 million for the decrepit gambling den.

He acknowledges that he did not need another casino. But he wasn't crazy about the people who were talking about buying the languishing property and turning it into an oversized pharmacy. 'I have nothing against Walgreens and Rite Aid, but I don't think people want to come down here for a good time and see a place that makes them think about their high cholesterol and blood-pressure medicine,' says Stevens. 'They come here to see what they don't see in Mainstream USA.'

Doherty, however, believes that there was something more practical and less romantic at play.

'I think Derek had strong feelings about package liquor being sold,' says Doherty, referring to the fact that pharmacies in Vegas tend to have liquor licenses and undersell casino bars and booze retailers. Either way, Stevens sounds like he plans on doing something special with the old Las Vegas Club. He's gotten rid of the asbestos and is in the process of stress-testing for wind with the intention of adding height to the towers. But that's just the beginning. 'I think downtown can now support a casino that has additional amenities,' he says. 'I'm thinking there could be a great pool, great spa, great restaurants, a really great sports betting experience.' He ticks off the Golden Nugget, Four Queens and California Club as downtown properties that are all upgrading their accommodations. Then he adds, 'Now is a time to provide more upscale rooms in this market.'

Assuming he doesn't mean that downtown—which remains a bit rough around the edges—could handle a Bellagio-style hotel, I ask if he's thinking of something along the lines of the Palms.

Without hesitation, Stevens responds, 'There is an opportunity to do something a little nicer than that.'

Derek Stevens is not the only one making a pitch for dominating the once toxic downtown Las Vegas. Also putting in money and buying up property is Tony Hsieh (pronounced shay). He made his fortune in tech and founded the online shoe retailer Zappos. Hsieh relocated his company to Las Vegas because he viewed it as the best city in America for round-the-clock customer service.

Like Stevens, he also became enamored with downtown. Unlike Stevens, he has no interest in gambling. Instead, he's using an investment of some $350 million to back businesses that he hopes will build community and turn the beaten up neighborhood into something more akin to Austin's downtown. Hence, when he purchased the once treacherous Gold Spike, Hsieh put the property's gaming license into cold storage and outfitted the place with foosball and ping-pong tables. It looks like a student center rec room instead of the down-and-dirty joint that it had once been. There are those who view that as crazy. But Hsieh figures that Las Vegas has enough gambling.

Under the auspices of the Downtown Project, he's backed a raft of businesses, like record and book stores; a fairly unique retail/recreation space called the Container Park (fronted by a giant statue of a praying mantis that shoots flames into the air); enough restaurants that downtown starts to feel like a dining destination; and a music festival called Life is Beautiful (since sold to Doherty's company). Hsieh is aiming to make a desirable neighborhood for locals that will attract talent to Zappos, which is now headquartered in what had once been Las Vegas's City Hall.

What's strange is that if you walk along Fremont Street, Las Vegas Boulevard seems to be the DMZ. On one side of it is the Heart Attack Grill, where anybody over 350-pounds eats for free and the milkshakes get augmented with sticks of butter. Beyond that is the so-called Fremont Street Experience with live cover bands, street performers, vendors selling all manner of gewgaws and, yes, the casinos.

Directly across from the Grill, on the other side of Las Vegas Boulevard, stands a funky but cool restaurant called Park on Fremont. It's a Doherty-owned neighborhood food and drink spot with a clientele of mostly youngish, more-or-less hip locals. The two crowds don't do a whole lot of mixing. But Hsieh doesn't seem to mind. 'Derek and I are 74 percent simpatico,' he says, downing his first of what will be six shots of the digestif Fernet over the course of our 30-minute interview. 'I think he is here for the right reasons and we always look for reasons to work together.'

I mention the oddness of their two worlds abutting, yet remaining segregated. He corrects me, pointing out that there have been occasions when folks from the gambling world mingled with his crowd of happening locals. 'When we threw Life Is Beautiful, Derek not only supported it but people went to the D for after parties.' He gushes about the electronic dance music (EDM) concerts that Stevens hosted on a large parcel of property he owns near his casinos.

After I confess that I thought he and Stevens were in a sort of tussle for the soul of downtown Las Vegas, one focusing on gambling and the other focusing on, well, shots of Fernet, Hsieh corrects my narrative. He tells me that he used to come to Vegas to play poker at the Bellagio and then he makes something abundantly clear: 'I am not anti-gambling. I am anti Las Vegas being pigeonholed as one thing.'

Then the idiosyncratic billionaire, who established a trailer park so that he could live there in his Airstream, calls for another round of Fernet and adds, 'I'm all about experiences. Anything that gives me a unique, memorable experience, I am interested in.'

With a bankroll of nearly half-a-billion dollars, he is on his way to accomplishing his goal. What it will look like in 10 years and whether or not his ventures will be profitable are anybody's guess. After downing the shot, he considers the two sides of Vegas Boulevard and says, 'There are bright lights and fire in both directions.'

Las Vegas stole the heart of Derek Stevens long before it became an investment for him. He remembers his first trip there. The future hotelier was 19 years old and drove to Vegas from Los Angeles with a friend. 'I had 40 bucks on me and he had 60,' says Stevens, holding court in a booth at Andiamo steakhouse, sipping wine, twirling pasta, working his way through an entrée of Chilean sea bass. 'We got ourselves a room at the Dunes and the first thing I played was Sigma Derby, the little horse racing game.' He's referring to the electromagnetic race in which gamblers bet on which metallic nag will win. Stevens says that he wants to get a couple of them for his casinos, and I assume it's for old-time's sake and not because the house maintains a 10 to 20 percent edge on the wagering. 'Then we won 40 bucks at roulette, paid for another night and fell in love with Vegas. We used the remaining $10 to buy a couple of $5 cigars.'

As his wealth grew so did his trips to Las Vegas. For pleasure and for conventions, he became a Sin City regular, staying at the old Aladdin for a while, then Hard Rock and later Mirage and Bellagio. 'I thought it was the best,' he enthuses in a tone that makes it easy to understand the success he's finding as a casino owner—he understands his customers because he's one of them. 'Come to Vegas, get a room for a few nights, get fed, have a few drinks and gamble. This is the greatest city in America.'

Derek Stevens Wife

He developed into an avid dice player and began looking at investment opportunities that could be more remunerative than laying down chips on the felt. Stevens made substantial stock investments in the slot manufacturer IGT and in the Rio All-Suite Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. He characterizes both businesses as having had 'incredible runs.' Rio, he adds, 'went from one tower to three and I did really well when it sold [to Caesars Entertainment]. That got me a little curious about Vegas.'

Next came an equity investment in the floundering Riviera. 'Then I started buying debt there and when the Riviera filed for bankruptcy, I converted the debt to equity and we ended up with 11 or 12 percent of the property,' says Stevens. 'We just sold the Riviera a little more than a year ago.'

Around 2007, Stevens decided to live the dream of most every recreational gambler: He wanted to enjoy the house advantage by owning a casino. Or at least a piece of one. He started looking around the state of Nevada for a suitable property, but it wasn't long before he set his sites on Vegas exclusively. That led to his getting involved in the Golden Gate partnership. He saw it as a way of figuring out whether or not he'd embrace the day-to-day reality of overseeing a casino. 'I like running businesses,' he says, explaining the rationale. 'And I knew that if things didn't work out I could always pack up and return to Detroit.'

It took only six months for Stevens to confirm that gaming was for him. 'By that point,' he says, 'people were calling me and wanting to check out the place. I liked the idea of people wanting to come over. I also like the idea of getting involved in a business that doesn't have a key or lock on the front door. That's literally a fact at the Golden Gate. When we did the renovation there in 2008, we needed to shut down temporarily and discovered that there are no locks. It hadn't been closed since the day that President Kennedy was shot.'

Stevens and his partner put in a couple of penthouse high-roller suites that would not look out of place on the Strip. The more standard suites—which really are long, narrow, loft-style rooms—look great, feel great, offer generous proportions and might be the biggest bargains in Vegas, usually selling for less than $100 per night. In fact, on the evening that we meet, there's an issue over which guests will get the high-roller suites and which will be in a standard suite. 'We only have two of those penthouses and three guests want to check into them tonight,' he says, smiling in a way that tells me it's a good problem to have. 'The hotel sold one, and two hosts promised them to gamblers. Right now, I've got three employees in an office fighting it out.'

By the time he bought Fitzgeralds, Stevens felt like a practiced hand in Vegas. He chartered a 747 to fly in guests for opening parties on two consecutive weekends. He had already played an active role in cleaning up the area around his properties and installing offbeat amenities such as a zipline that, not coincidentally, seems to fly folks from one end of his mini empire to the other. He also developed a freewheeling management style where anything can happen on the spur of the moment. It's led to some odd promotions including a drawing for the casino owner's muscle cars. First to go was a Dodge Challenger Hellcat. Up for the taking at the moment is a new Shelby GT350 with a production of only 2,000. 'I love giving away cars,' he gushes. 'The more slots you play, the better your odds of winning the car. I think it's kind of cool to give my car away to a player.' Plus it's not lost on him that having the flashy ride parked right in front of his casino draws foot traffic.

That might be a mildly surprising gimmick, but the real shocker came in 2012 when a blundered call by a fill-in NFL ref cost bettors a win. Stevens made himself look like the sportiest casino owner on earth. He paid off the winning wagers and refunded money to the losers. That decision was solidified within two days after the game had been played. 'I remember exactly how much we refunded but I will never reveal the number,' says Stevens after I express curiosity as to what it cost him to cancel his side of the bet. 'That generated a lot of publicity.'

As did a situation that began in late 2014 when he made a $20,000 future bet that Michigan State would win the 2015 NCAA basketball championship. The bet came within a single game of paying off. It would have resulted in a $1 million windfall for Stevens. 'It got pretty crazy,' he says. 'If I make another bet like that and wind up going far with it, I don't know that I will go public.'

Considering that Stevens has an unquenchable penchant for publicity and a knack for leveraging every situation, that seems likely to be a bigger longshot than any wager on the board.

Michael Kaplan is a Cigar Aficionado contributing editor.

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The Man Who Took Over Downtown

If you ask him, Derek Stevens will tell you that the name of one of his properties, “The D,” could stand for Downtown. Of course, it could just as easily stand for Derek or his hometown of Detroit. I would tend to go with, “Downtown,” as the man says, though, given that nobody knows as much about the place as he does.

Downtown Las Vegas was once the happening spot in the city, prior to The Strip coming in with its mega-casinos and thereby earning that distinction. While Downtown still does not offer the glitz and glamour that many Las Vegas visitors crave, there is no secret that the state of affairs has seen significant improvement in recent years and that Derek Stevens and his vision is the cause of that improvement.

Much like the city of Detroit itself, Stevens would be closely associated with the automotive industry early on in his career. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1990 and receiving his MBA from Wayne State University four years later, Stevens would go on to take over as the CEO of his grandfather’s company, The Cold Heading Company. The Cold Heading Company supplied the Detroit automakers with many of their nuts and bolts and is still in operation to this day as you can see here.

It also states that they are, “Family Owned and Operated since 1912,” so it’s still in the family. In fact, according to Bloomberg, he is still the acting CEO and head of the company.

It also states that he is a Co-Chairman and Director of the company, so while that would seem to contradict with being the CEO, maybe it doesn’t. Bloomberg does not appear to state that he ever resigned as CEO of the company. Either way, the Cold Heading Company goes on and so does Stevens.

Derek Stevens, and brother Greg, would not immediately revolutionize Downtown, though. It would be far from a smart business decision to undertake such an enterprise immediately without first testing the viability of the market. In fact, their company, Desert Rock Enterprises, would begin their foray into the casino game by purchasing a 50% interest in the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino in 2008.

Much like the rest of Downtown Las Vegas, the Golden Gate had remained largely unchanged for several years. In fact, it had been more than fifty years since the most recent renovation at the time of Desert Rock taking a 60% interest in the company, with Derek becoming the CEO of the hotel and casino. Again, I think the long-game of revolutionizing all of Downtown had always been in the back of his mind, but first, it would be important to see if a single casino could have any drawing power. The major renovation would occur in 2012, around the same time that the Stevens’ would reopen the old Fitzgerald’s as, “The D,” and would cost about twelve million dollars. The property was essentially renovated from top to bottom and everything in between, while maintaining some of the classic elements that would preserve the history of the property, to some extent.

In fact, one of the property’s features near the hotel desk is not only the first phone ever to make a call in Las Vegas, but also an extremely old guest register. The art of nice handwriting has gone by the wayside, by the way, which is good for me because my penmanship is awful with a 10/10 on Video Keno probability of improving.

At this time, Stevens would also introduce the idea of, “Dancing Dealers,” to the casino, which are essentially scantily clad dealers that alternate between dealing the games and dancing for the customers. Pretty much what it says on the box. However, unlike the Strip with its, “Party Pits,” you won’t be dancing to the tune of 6:5 Blackjack at the Golden Gate or The D, as the Blackjack would remain paying the proper 3:2. Imagine that! Creating a draw to pull customers in without simultaneously costing them more money. Novel concept.

In 2016, they would go on to buyout the rest of the property and would become the full owners of the Golden Gate. The casino would undergo another renovation just last year, with an expansion of the property into the former, “La Bayou,” area (which Stevens also bought) as well as creating a new entrance to the casino.

During and throughout this time, Stevens would also focus on the other bookend of the Fremont Street Experience, The D. Fitzgerald’s was in the midst of turbulent times under the stewardship of one Don Barden and his Majestic Star Casino LLC brand. Barden was attempting a turnaround of the property, making the purchase of the old Sundance (bought by Lincoln Management, and renamed Fitzgerald’s for Lincoln to subsequently rename itself Fitzgerald’s Gaming) as he bought the property out of bankruptcy.

He became quite the person in gambling himself with that purchase, as it would make him the first African-American casino owner in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, Barden would die, but fortunately, the property would be sold to Derek Stevens, with a 78% ownership stake, and brother Greg, at 22% and renamed The D. That sale would take place in October of 2011 with the official rebranding to follow the next year.

Nearly doubling the renovation investment for, “The Largest Building Downtown,” the Stevens’ would pump some 22 million dollars into renovating the property with a modern look and feel. Of course, Stevens would retain some affinity for the Vegas of old as was reflected in the, “Vintage Vegas,” floor, a study in contrasts from the much noisier (LOUD MUSIC AT ALL TIMES!!!) and lively downstairs with its dancing dealers during certain hours.

The Vintage Vegas floor, still home an original Sigma Derby machine that also has the signage indicating such, would also be home to a variety of coin-dropping slot machines as well as a small handful of more modern games for a long time. The Sigma Derby wouldn’t be the only unique element to Vintage Vegas, as it would also come with a, “Loose Deuces,” nickel denomination Video Poker game returning 101.6% at base. For a very long time, as a result, The D would have the best returning Video Poker machine in Vegas. Unfortunately, that old coin-dropper is no more.

The Vintage Vegas floor remains home to The D’s Live Keno as well as William Hill Sportsbook. I would suggest that is probably because nobody would be able to hear what the Hell is going on if either of those two things were located in the cacophonous downstairs area. Another first for The D is an, “America’s Coney Island,” location, specializing in hot dogs, which is the first one to be located outside of the State of Michigan.

The D also offers perhaps the best odds on LIve Keno, at least they certainly did at one time, to be found anywhere in the whole of Vegas. That’s pretty much what Stevens has always put an emphasis on, offering customers great service, a great value and a great gamble. I still maintain that the customer service at The D is absolutely second-to-none anywhere in Vegas, it’s not even close. Of course, that aspect is something that Stevens makes a special point to emphasize.

Stevens can often be found at the, “Longbar,” coming in at just under 100 feet in length and said to be the longest bar in all of Las Vegas. It pretty much runs something very close to the end of the McDonald’s located in the casino almost all the way to the player’s club. The long bar can be seen from basically any table game on the floor as it runs that entire span. Aside from that, the longbar is just long and is otherwise basically like any other bar in Vegas with the usual Video Poker bartops and televisions behind for watching sports.

Last February, the casino would introduce the World’s Largest Keno Board, which can be seen outside of the casino across what basically amounts to an entire wall and shows the numbers drawn within. While garish, I suppose it’s technically useful if you would like to put your numbers in and go outside to check out one of the few nearby shops, or otherwise, hit up the outdoor bar for a drink and some flair bartending.

Also on the forefront of technological innovation, The D would become the first hotel and casino to accept Bitcoin as well as buy and sell it for cash at a Bitcoin machine. I guess Downtown basically has alternate things of monetary value pretty much covered since you can also purchase actual gold at the Golden Nugget.

In 2016, Stevens would purchase three other Downtown properties all at once, the Glitter Gulch (which was a strip club), La Bayou and Mermaids, the latter two formerly casinos. Those locations would close in 2016 with Stevens later extending the entrance and floor of Golden Gate into what was once La Bayou, and him planning to build a new hotel and casino at the former location of Mermaids and Glitter Gulch.

Those purchases would follow the Stevens’ purchase of the former Las Vegas Club, a casino once owned by the Tamares Group, who only the nearby Plaza. Purchased in 2015, Stevens had already determined that the property would house a new casino, but the purchase of the properties in the previous paragraph would enable him to increase the scope of same. Upon completion, this new casino will represent the first completely new property to open in Las Vegas in several decades. All of the other properties either retained the same name, were renovated and rebranded or, as in the case of Downtown Grand, had shuddered and then were purchased and rehabbed.

Even more importantly than that, it would represent the Stevens’ third casino property in the general area of the Fremont Street Experience. Including those that touch Fremont Street to some extent (and the Plaza) that will give him three of the eight casino properties. His competition will remain, The Golden Gate, Four Queens, The Plaza, Binion’s and Fremont, with other casinos also Downtown but either not on Fremont at all (Main Street Station, California, Downtown Grand) or on Fremont but away from the experience (El Cortez).

Either way, in a period of just a few years, Stevens went from being a fifty percent interest in one of the smallest casinos in Downtown Las Vegas to being Downtown’s biggest player.

Despite all of his success, Stevens remains relatively affable and down-to-Earth. Personifying his dedication to customer service, he can often be found going around one of his casino properties, smiling and shaking hands. In fact, the first time I had the opportunity to tell him hello, we were drying our hands in the public bathroom of The Golden Gate. I’m sure there’s a private one somewhere, so if that’s not down-to-Earth, I don’t know what is.

While Stevens appreciates the history of Downtown Las Vegas, he understands that some aspects that long-time Vegas visitors may have enjoyed have to go away if Downtown is to succeed. In his words, “Every time there’s something new that comes in, it means there are some things that are turned to memories.”

The fact of the matter is that, other than a dedicated handful of, “Old-School,” Vegas visitors, (‘handful,’ meant relatively) Downtown would have to create some element of excitement and, if not glamour, at least pizzazz, in order to compete with The Strip for new visitors. For too many years, Vegas visitors would wander Downtown for a day, if not for only a few hours, and essentially look upon it as though it were some kind of museum. The fact is that it had to become vibrant in order for the place, as a whole, to succeed.

Seeking to take advantage of that which was created by the Fremont Street Experience a few years prior, Stevens would go on to modernize his casinos to make them a little more reminiscent of those on The Strip.

In addition to the Dancing Dealers, for example, the aesthetics at The D are as modern as it gets with a red and black color scheme pervading throughout. Additionally, the loudest closed environment I have ever encountered in my entire life, which is the entire first floor of the casino, is definitely put together with young people in mind. Aesthetically speaking, the idea is for it to be modern and flashy without being too flashy. In his effort to offer something Downtown such that one casino or another would appeal to someone, Stevens has done pretty well.

While somewhat tight-lipped about his specific plans for the new casino, he has indicated in the past that he is considering doing something that would be a larger version of the, “Vintage Vegas,” theme, but we’ll see how that goes.

Stevens also knows the importance of getting people into the casino, which starts with getting people near the casino. For that reason, he opened up, “One Bar,” at Golden Gate prior to the opening of The D bar. Essentially, the One Bar was the first outdoor bar Downtown and was set up such that people could come up, purchase drinks and see and hear all the fun going on inside of the casino. It must have worked to some extent, because it’s still there.

That’s the thing with Stevens, he has a great eye for unusual ideas. On paper, Vintage Vegas should be one of the most boring places in the world to younger people, but you would see them up there playing saying stuff like, “These old machines are cool as Hell!” The notion of a coin-dropper would come off as nonsensical to most, but Stevens figured that it would draw people in, and if they weren’t enticed, they could always go downstairs.

Truly, it begins and ends with customer service, and that’s where we see a touch of Stevens in all of his employees. Pretty much always smiling, the vast majority of the staff will typically say hi to you as you approach, and always verbally acknowledge a gratuity. Combining that with the staff at The D’s restaurants, who treat you like you’re gold even though the restaurants are very Economically-priced, is just an emphasis on treating every single customer as if he is important to the casino. Because he is.

The treatment may begin with the customer service, but it certainly doesn’t end there. As mentioned before, The D offers The D Grill, which is essentially a second-tier restaurant at third-tier prices and top-tier service. Maybe the food just seems better because you’re treated so well there, I don’t know, but it seems to me to be steakhouse quality at near Denny’s prices.

Of course, most visitors to Downtown Las Vegas, at their core, are about the gambling. The casinos owned by Stevens also never fail in that regard. Not only are there great Video Poker paytables at The D, with a few machines coming in at over 100% with optimal strategy, but as was mentioned before all of the Blackjack is 3:2. In the high-limit pit, Stevens would even implement a Baccarat table taking only a 4% Commission on Banker bets.

The great gambling value hardly ends there. For people who enjoy trying out new table games, Stevens is no stranger to giving them a try in his casinos. Perhaps one of the better-known to come into The D was the Deuces Wild Hold ‘Em Fold ‘Em game. The house edge is higher than most other games on that one, but it is a really unique card game that plays unlike most, if not all, other games that you may have tried.

While the gambling an food values would be enough on their own, casinos owned by Stevens hardly skimp in other regards. While Strip casinos are busy charging exorbitant parking rates and monitoring the comped drinks pretty strictly against a player’s action, Stevens casinos will still be plugging away giving free drinks for all who are playing anything. Hardly one to worry about a player’s action, Stevens realizes the value that the optic of a busy casino has, so works hard to draw as many people in as possible. Whether playing LIve Keno for the lowest amounts possible, nickel Video Keno, or anything else...the drinks will be brought to you with regularity and a smile.

The rooms are also cheap compared to those on The Strip, and I am told, run comparable to many Strip casinos in terms of quality. The bedding is extremely comfortable, the TV’s are pretty large for the price being paid and it seems that they are generally kept fairly clean. It has been said that you should try to get a high floor if you’re not a fan of staying up late, as the noise from the Fremont Street Experience will cause you to do just that.

It is a shame to see some neat little novelty places such as Mermaids and La Bayou meet their ends, as well as to see the dilapidated Las Vegas Club, which had considered also becoming a pharmacy (!?) meet a similar fate. Although, I remain excited for what Stevens decides to put in their place. Again, if you had always bet that everything Stevens touches is bound to be a success, you wouldn’t have lost any wagers yet.

Derek Stevens Wife

Stevens also understands that treating the customers well, by itself, isn’t enough. To borrow from the Vegasinc and the Las Vegas Sun.

“It never ceases to amaze me how much terrific feedback various customers can give you,” he said. “You can only do so many things in a day, but a customer may tell you, ‘Hey, this was going on in the parking garage,’ or, ‘I saw this billboard when I was driving in from California.’

“And all those little bits tell you something. Like, ‘Oh, yeah, that billboard we bought by Bakersfield (Calif.), I guess that's working.’”

The article also mentions, and I wholeheartedly agree, that personality is a big part of it. Totally Ric Anderson’s thought, but I echo that Las Vegas was built on personalities such as those of Benny Binion and Jackie Gaughan. Hands-on type owners that made sure to go around, shake hands and solicit the opinions of the customers. While The Strip may be the place to go for glitz and glamour, that’s one thing that the faceless guys counting beans in backrooms are not going to be able to provide. One thing that those faceless guys are not going to be able to receive is customer input, which probably finds its way to some E-Mail account and results in an automated response until someone in a call center a few blocks away reaches out to you. Unless you’re a whale, of course.

Stevens isn’t particularly concerned with the status of an individual player, and that is expressed in his willingness to listen to anyone. Jackie Gaughan, for example, was the same way and while most other operators haven’t learned from that, his son, Michael Gaughan, certainly has with his South Point casino way South of the main Strip.

Either way, it’s clear from the usual beam on his face that Stevens enjoys every day of being on his casino properties and chatting it up with some of the customers. After selling the El Cortez, Jackie Gaughan would remain a resident in the penthouse and would be seen everyday playing poker with many of the same people downstairs. They pretty much kept the poker room open just for him, because by all reports, it really wasn’t making anything.

What it really comes down to is a love for the casino environment, and the more general environment and feel of Downtown Las Vegas, which has always centered around being a Paradise in Paradise for lovers of value.

In addition to the enjoyment of the atmosphere, there’s also an element of hard work and long hours that goes into it. To borrow one last time from the article above (which I suggest reading):

The most important thing is just to show up. I say that to all my young guys. Forty hours a week is not a workweek to me. That's part-time. I like my guys here 60, 70, 80 hours a week — you can accelerate your experience; you can accelerate your learning.

So we develop a culture with people who are here a lot. We generally all like each other, which is a critical element when we spend most of our waking hours together? I really like having a culture where you can get a text 24 hours a day.

In the interview, he goes on to discuss how taxable jackpots have been stuck at the same level for years, and are an unfortunate turnoff for customers, because they are not indexed to inflation and cannot be written off of state tax returns (Oh, don’t I know?) in many cases. This is just an example of the approach he takes to everything that he does, looking at everything in an overall sense and trying to figure out the best way of doing things.

For that reason, he would also go on to describe Downtown as, “Complementary,” to The Strip rather than in competition with The Strip. He lauds the Las Vegas Convention Center and T-Mobile Arena in the meantime.

Stevens knows enough to look at Las Vegas as an entire experience. That makes it a question not of, “Downtown or The Strip,” but rather a question of, “Why not do both?” He knows that anything that brings someone to Vegas will ultimately bring people to his property, just like bringing people to his properties will result in them also visiting other places. (It it even possible to be Downtown for a full day without going into multiple casinos?)

Ultimately, he understands that the best overall goal is simply finding a way to give people what they want, and that shows in his customer service approach. If Las Vegas gives people what they want, more people come to Vegas, all of the casino hotels are filled up and everyone wins.

Conclusion

Derek Stevens Wikipedia

Love him or hate him, the fact remains that Derek Stevens was instrumental in turning around Downtown Las Vegas, if not responsible for the event in the majority. Prior to his arrival, the Downtown properties spent years, decades or even half of a century on a gradual decline, catering to locals and what few stragglers were left who wanted to visit Downtown.

Stevens would come in and realize that the Downtown casinos were successful in offering two things: A unique atmosphere and a good gamble. Given his natural business sense, he saw an opportunity and came in during the economic downturn, when nobody else was really investing that much. While people were selling low, he was buying low. While others were closing or delaying construction, he was pumping millions into renovations. He had an eye for the future of Downtown then, and that continues now.

In addition to tremendous customer service standards, Stevens would understand that the aesthetics of his casinos would not necessarily have to be to the level of The Strip, and that Downtown could retain some of its old-school charm, particularly by way of the casinos that he does not own, but there had to be a little bit of flash and excitement. Downtown would need to become a Vegas destination again, with optics, food and rooms that were at least comparable to those which can be found on The Strip.

Derek Stevens Casino Owner

In short, he had a vision and we see the result of that vision. It seems like the guy is never wrong. The next step in the revolution of Downtown will be the opening of his third property and there’s no reason to think it won’t be a similar success story.

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