I'm a casino nerd.

I've always been fascinated by casino history, design and operation. There are 400+ casinos in the US, I've probably been to at least 75%.

However, I'm not impressed by casinos anymore...

...I tend to only see flaws now. Tired design concepts. Predictable layouts. Lack of aesthetics.

"Have you been here before?" my wife asks.

"No, that's just where they put that in EVERY casino."

However, when Steve Wynn was at the top of his game, his properties were transcendent. They raised the standard in Las Vegas and made the city a destination resort at a time when casino gaming was proliferating across the country.

Wynn, Roger Thomas, DeRuyter Butler made magic.

Steve Wynn is gone and Nevada Gaming is furiously trying to scrub away his name. As Ace Rothstein laments at the end of Casino, "the big corporations took it all over."

All that said...enter Derek Stevens.

Derek Stevens has owned (part of) Riviera, Golden Gate, The D, and now Circa will be his fourth casino installment (AFAIK).

And just like the Star Wars series, Episode IV is A New Hope.

For Downtown. For Vegas. For Us.

Derek Stevens is the last of a breed. He's a guy that gets Vegas more than all those corporations and boards of directors ever will.

7 years ago TODAY, the Downtown Grand opened. I remember seeing video of opening night and there at a Blackjack table was Derek Stevens.

You see, in old Vegas tradition, when you open a casino, the owners of other casinos come to your casino and "seed the joint." They bet big at your tables with no intention of winning to help give you a leg up.

Derek was there betting $10k hands. He gets Vegas.

Tonight, Derek opens the biggest best thing to happen to Downtown Las Vegas since...well, Steve Wynn bought the Golden Nugget.

When I see all that @CircaLasVegas is, I can't help but think of the legendary Wynn/Sinatra commercials:

Wynn is gone. Sinatra is too. However, once the world gets to see Circa I think there's going to be a lot of people that think "that THIS is uptown."

Congratulations to @DerekJStevens, @MikePalmCirca, @MMpact and all of your teams!