Trump’s visit to Las Vegas excites Derek Stevens, plans tax talk

Circa co-owner Derek Stevens learned Wednesday that President Donald Trump planned to visit Las Vegas on Saturday. And the resort exec wasn’t aware until about 4:30 p.m. Thursday that his hotel had been selected for the presidential stop.

“From my perspective, there’s a lot going through my mind when this happens,” Stevens said in a phone chat Friday. “The first thing is, when someone from the team of the president calls, you answer the phone.”

The downtown Las Vegas magnate said that Sigal Chattah, the national committeewoman for Nevada’s Republican National Committee, made first contact on behalf of the president. Chattah then put Stevens in touch with Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald to discuss the hotel’s availability and relayed the information to Trump’s advance team.

That group then arrived at Circa “in like three minutes,” Stevens said.

Trump is set to speak at a venue inside the hotel (Stevens declined to specify the exact location, citing security protocols). Hosting a presidential event of this magnitude, just days after Trump’s inauguration, is by far the most prominent event at Circa since its 2020 opening.

“Well, there’s a lot happening,” Stevens said. “This is one hell of a week. I mean, this may go down as one of the most significant political weeks in our country’s history, and a great moment for downtown.”

An adept sports-wagerer, Stevens has handicapped his time with Trump, even though he has not been guaranteed any presidential one-on-one time. Stevens has his pitch ready.

“If I get even 60 seconds with him I’m going to thank him for protecting the workers in Vegas and at my properties,” said Stevens, who also operates the D Las Vegas and Golden Gate. “If I have a chance, I’m going to explain why the sports-betting excise tax needs to be eliminated, and why the slot-jackpot threshold for a W-2 G (tax form) of $1,200 needs to be raised to $5,000.”

“Raising the threshold on both of those will eliminate a tremendous amount of undue regulatory burden, and reduce a tremendous amount of wasted time in casinos across the country,” he said.

Stevens said having the event at one of his properties is not at odds with his historical apolitical public persona.

“I’ve never been someone who was all over Harry Reid, or Governor (Steve) Sisolak, or someone on the Republican side. I’ve been a little quieter on this,” Stevens said. “But again, I just thought that this topic is so beneficial to my employees, and to and to all of Las Vegas, that I wanted to support it.”

Jonathan Jossel, CEO of the nearby Plaza, said Trump’s trip is a high-tide moment for the downtown neighborhood.

“It’s just incredible that he’s chosen downtown Las Vegas, of all the places he could have picked,” Jossel said Friday morning. “The fact that he’s chosen downtown as the place to host is a feather in the cap for downtown. His message that he’s going to share tomorrow is no tax on tips, and that is a universally positive message that everyone on both sides will be excited about.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.