Twelve casino hotels operate in downtown Las Vegas, and seven owners control them. Two of those owners hold half the properties between them. The rest are single-asset companies, several of them family-held, a structure that has not changed much in fifteen years and that distinguishes downtown from the Strip, where two companies control most of the room inventory.
The portfolio owners
Boyd Gaming owns the Fremont, the California, and Main Street Station, all within two blocks of one another on the north side of the district. The company was founded downtown by Sam Boyd and his son Bill in 1975 with the California Hotel, and its headquarters remain in Las Vegas. The three properties market heavily to visitors from Hawaii, a relationship that dates to the California’s opening.
Derek Stevens owns Circa, The D, and the Golden Gate through his companies. Stevens, a Michigan auto-parts executive, bought into the Golden Gate in 2008, acquired Fitzgeralds in 2011 and renamed it The D in 2012, and opened Circa in 2020. His three properties occupy both corners of Main and Fremont and the block at Third, making him the largest single presence under the canopy.
The single-asset owners
Fertitta Entertainment, Tilman Fertitta’s company, owns the Golden Nugget, the largest hotel downtown. Fertitta’s Landry’s bought the property in 2005 from Poster Financial, which had acquired it from MGM Mirage the year before. Golden Nugget is the anchor property of the district and the one the others price against.
TLC Casino Enterprises owns the Four Queens and Binion’s, adjacent properties on the south side of Fremont between Casino Center and Third. TLC, controlled by Terry Caudill, bought the Four Queens in 2003 and Binion’s in 2008.
Tamares Group, a private investment firm, owns the Plaza at the head of Fremont Street. Tamares acquired the property in 2004 along with the Las Vegas Club, Gold Spike, and Western, and later sold or closed those three. The Las Vegas Club site, across Main Street, became Circa.
CIM Group, a Los Angeles real estate investor, owns the Downtown Grand on Third Street, which it built on the site of the former Lady Luck and opened in 2013. CIM added a second tower in 2020.
El Cortez is owned by a group led by Kenny Epstein, who bought the property from Jackie Gaughan in 2008 after working for him for decades. Gaughan, who at one point owned a large share of downtown’s casinos, kept an apartment at the El Cortez until his death in 2014.
What it means for rates
The ownership structure explains part of the pricing behavior. Stevens’ three properties and Boyd’s three are priced as portfolios, with Circa and the Golden Gate at the top and bottom of the Stevens range and The D between them. The single-asset owners price against the Golden Nugget, which sets the ceiling for the district. The two TLC properties, which charge no resort fee, price against each other and against the El Cortez for the budget end of the market.
Ownership changes downtown have been rare. The last transaction involving an operating casino hotel was the El Cortez sale in 2008. Circa was the last new build, and the last new owner.