When casinos closed in Las Vegas on March 18 and didn ’ t reopen until June 4 , Stevens put procedures in place at his casinos over and above what lots of other casinos have done . At the D , as of September , guests were required to get temperature checks , walk through a metal detector and wear masks . He says the same will go into effect at Circa should the same restrictions be in place .
“ All we can really do as operators is continue to follow all the guidelines , all the directives ,” he says . “ Of course we have to do that . Gaming is a privileged license .
“ But we just have to be prepared to adapt quickly . When we reopened , we did something above and beyond , temperature checks at our doors . The regulation is you have to do a temperature check to go to a hotel room . So we temperaturechecked everyone coming in and out . We thought that gave people a sense of greater security . We also felt that it was a safer thing to do .”
With some disturbances occurring on the Las Vegas Strip , Stevens says his casinos strive to keep the guests safe and secure by requiring ID to enter .
“ From a security perspective , I think everyone has been adapting as best they can . Our country just wasn ’ t necessarily ready for the magnitude of what happened , and I think because of the magnitude , everyone in the country is struggling , some from a health perspective , some from a financial perspective , some from a general economic perspective , some from just an isolation and psychological perspective . We hope they can visit us in Las Vegas and give them some relief .”
Legend in the Making
Lots of people compare Derek Stevens to the visionary Steve Wynn in his early days , when he was full of ideas , entrepreneurial fire and operational magic . Steelman agrees .
“ We have a superstar in the making in Derek Stevens ,” he says . “ Derek ’ s vision on this property is unlike anyone else ’ s . Circa has a unique spin to it .
“ When I have my foreign clients here from Vietnam , Cambodia or Macau , or some even from Atlantic City , many times , we go down to Andiamo ’ s ( the Italian restaurant in the D ) for dinner , because it ’ s got a great old Las Vegas feeling . And then we walk up Fremont Street , and they all turn to me and say , ‘ Paul , we want this .’ Here ’ s a little tiny street in Downtown Las Vegas that attracts 24 million people each and every year , and it still resonates . So , one of our unique challenges on this design — and Derek ’ s challenge , of course — was to design , from the ground up , a facility that was compatible with Fremont Street . And we ’ ve done that without a doubt .” Stevens is a little more demure when it comes to his legacy . “ I love operating casinos ,” he says . “ I love building teams . I like being around our people . I don ’ t love being a deal-maker . You know , I kind of got thrown into that . I ’ m not going to back off from numbers or finance , but I don ’ t love it the way I love teams and love growing businesses . For me , coming here from 2006 , with the Golden Gate , to 2011 at the D , and 2014 with the Events Center , I now have a great opportunity to be with a lot more great people that we work with and our guests . And for that , I ’ m very grateful .
“ I am beyond excited to be able to operate and run Circa , for the first year . We have the first 365 days numerically mapped out . I look forward to operating that way . And then , day 366 to day 730 , I can ’ t wait to see what the second March Madness is going to be like , and the second St . Patrick ’ s Day , and the second Fourth of July . Because that gives us an opportunity to get better . That ’ s the stuff that gets me all fired up . When we open , we ’ re going to have fun , but we always have to get better .”