Circa sets opening date for southwest Las Vegas sportsbook

Circa Sports opens its seventh Nevada sportsbook outlet Monday at Silverton Casino Lodge, a doorway to the rapidly growing southwest Las Vegas market.

Circa CEO Derek Stevens, Silverton President Rob Kunkle and Circa associates Mike Palm, vice president of operations of Circa Resort &Casino and Jeff Benson, director of operation of Circa Sports will open the book, timed to open in advance of March Madness basketball tournaments.

“The fact that the Silverton just redid their hotel has made it a very busy and bustling casino, so we felt that this was going to be an optimal location for us in the southwest area,” Stevens said in an interview.

He was referring to a recently completed $40 million upgrade to the 300-room hotel with a rustic outdoors theme.

The new 1,600-square-foot book, located just off the casino’s parking garage, has three betting windows; three self-serve betting kiosks; 12 lounge chairs, six four-person tables; four six-person booths; 22 bar-top games; and various ADA-compliant seating options.

Stevens did not disclose how much Circa invested in the new location.

Knowing that most sports bettors use apps to wager on games, Stevens said he looked to Silverton’s location at Interstate 15 and Blue Diamond Road as a key to opening Circa’s newest outlet.

Circa takes over an operation formerly run by Cantor Gaming and William Hill.

Stevens’ Circa empire includes its flagship downtown property — the world’s largest book — at Circa Resort &Casino; sportsbooks at the downtown D Las Vegas and Golden Gate; Tuscany Suites &Casino east of the Strip; The Pass Casino in Henderson; and Legends Bay in Sparks. It also operates at properties in Colorado and Iowa, opened a book in Illinois in the fourth quarter and will next open in Kentucky.

Stevens said he is choosy about where to locate his operations, preferring to go to places conducive to his low-hold model.

“That’s not a model that’s going to make sense in a state like Tennessee which has a minimum hold requirement or a state like New York with a really high tax rate,” Stevens said. “For us, we’d like to continue to grow to other jurisdictions, but we’d like to grow in jurisdictions that have a regulatory environment that we feel matches up with our business model.”

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.