A second Circa casino planned in downtown Las Vegas and a new locals project in Henderson indicate how smaller markets are growing as the Strip lags.
News of a second Circa-branded casino in downtown Las Vegas — currently dubbed “Circa 2” — came last week from an unlikely source: Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley.
In her inaugural State of the City address last Wednesday, Berkley said that “a casino developed by Derek Stevens on the northeast corner of Symphony Park” is “in our future”, per KLAS. Stevens and his brother, Greg Stevens, own Circa Resort & Casino on Fremont Street. The brothers also own the Golden Gate and The D Las Vegas casinos.
Circa opened in 2020 and has become a big success, thanks in part to its lean into sports betting culture. Its famous Stadium Swim poolside sportsbook has become a city attraction, and the casino is home to the Sports Betting Hall of Fame. Its multimillion-dollar NFL “survivor” pools are also among the most popular in the area.
New casino would be within walking distance
Symphony Park is a 61-acre mixed-use development connected to downtown Las Vegas through a pedestrian bridge. Current developments there include the Smith Center for the Performing Arts and the Discovery Children’s Museum. The yet-to-be-constructed Las Vegas Museum of Art is slated for the area as well.
Master plans from the city for the area now show “Circa 2 Resort & Casino” just steps away from Circa’s existing parking garage. The company has yet to comment publicly on the project.
County property records show that the 6.4-acre plot was last purchased in 2017 by PQ Holdings LLC for $3.3 million. It is zoned as a planned development. Industry analysts flagged the purchase at the time, as it is the only parcel in the development zoned for gaming. Rumours have swirled since, and it now appears that Stevens will in fact develop a new casino on the site.
Some level of work is said to be ongoing on the parcel, per KLAS.
Boyd moving ahead with Cadence Crossing
Boyd Gaming also confirmed late last month it is moving ahead with construction on Cadence Crossing, a 50,000-square-foot casino project in Henderson, a Las Vegas suburb. Named after the nearby fast-growing Cadence neighbourhood, the casino represents Boyd’s first new development in 20 years.
It will replace the existing Jokers Wild casino, which will remain open until the new facility is ready. Once Cadence Crossing opens, Jokers Wild will be demolished to make way for additional parking. Construction began 3 April and will run through mid-2026. The casino is expected to include 450 slots, food and beverage options and more.
Additional amenities, including a hotel, will be rolled out in phases as the Cadence community grows. About 5,000 of the 12,000 homes planned for the area have been built, per the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
On the same day that Cadence Crossing broke ground, gaming stocks across the industry tanked in reaction to US tariffs. They have been up and down since, and the uncertainty prompted analysts to ask last month whether Boyd might delay or scale down the project.
“At the end of the day, when we got through [the] analysis, quite honestly, we felt very comfortable with the risk relative to our existing budgets,” Boyd CFO Josh Hirsberg said on the company’s latest earnings call 24 April, per the Review-Journal. “We don’t feel like [with] what we know today that any of our budgets would have to change.”
Ancillary markets outpacing the Strip
Both projects are illustrative of the recent success of downtown and the Las Vegas locals market relative to the Strip.
The latest data from the Nevada Gaming Control Board showed that for March, downtown posted $85 million in GGR, up almost 12% year-on-year. Conversely, the Strip was down 5% to $681.6 million, its seventh YoY decline in the last eight months. The market is now down 3.3% for the fiscal year, compared to +3% for downtown.
The locals market was down 2.5% to $162.8 million in March, but its GGR total was easily the second most behind the Strip. For the fiscal year the locals market is +6%, the best increase of any gaming areas in the state.
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