Derek Stevens rolls out the welcome mat for Canadian dollars. By Ryan Slattery
Responding to a sharp drop in tourism, Las Vegas casino mogul Derek Stevens is ready to welcome Canadian tourists back with a rather generous promotion. His three downtown properties – Circa, Golden Gate, and The D – are now offering a one-for-one exchange that treats the Canadian and U.S. dollar as equals for everything from hotel room bookings, bar tabs and even slot play.
“We’re putting our money where our mouth is,” Stevens said in a phone conversation with Casino Life. “What we’re saying is ‘Hey Canada, we want you back.’ We want them to know that they’re welcome. That they have some friends out here in the desert. And we think we’re giving Canadians a pretty great deal.”
Image: Circa Resort
Under the promotion, called the “At Par” program, Canadian visitors with proof of citizenship (either a passport or a government-issued ID) will receive $1 U.S. dollar in value for every $1 Canadian dollar spent, regardless of daily exchange rates. At launch the Canadian dollar, or “Loonie,” stood at 73 cents in comparison to the U.S. equivalent. The promotion is scheduled to run through August 31.
Threefold Value
“It’s a pretty good bump in value,” Stevens said. Canadian guests benefit from the At Par program in the following ways:
Hotel Stays: Canadian guests staying at Circa, The D or Golden Gate who book directly on the resort’s website will receive the At Par converted rate at check-in, paying the same rate shown in U.S. dollars, charged directly in Canadian dollars, with no exchange rate applied. The offer applies only to room rates for stays during the promotional period.
Image: Golden Gate
Beverage Discounts: Stevens says that even guests accustomed to staying at other hotels in Vegas, can take advantage of the program because drinks are cheaper at select bars. Canadians ordering beverages at Overhang at Circa, Bar Prohibition at Golden Gate or BarCanada at The D will have their drinks discounted at the appropriate rate.
Slot Play: To get his slot offer approved, Stevens worked with the Nevada Gaming Control Board to iron out the details. In this case, Canadians can redeem up to $500 Canadian at full U.S. dollar value, by visiting the Club One desk. Play will then be loaded onto their club card and can be used on designated slot machines. “It gives you a good jump on things,” Stevens says.
Michigan Memories
Stevens grew up in the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe, just a river crossing away from the Canadian border. Thus, the promotion is not only a direct response to try to jump-start visitation at his properties during a tough year for tourism, but it’s a personal plea as well as he looks to invite his neighbors to north back to Sin City.
“I loved crossing over for places like Tunnel Bar-B-Q, Don Cherry’s and Tim Hortons,” Stevens recalls. “And my lifelong love of hockey is part of why we created Bar Canada downtown [at The D], as a place to celebrate that culture year-round. Those experiences shaped how I think about welcoming Canadian guests.”
According to the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority (LVCVA), 38.5 million people visited Las Vegas in 2025. That’s a 7.5 percent decrease when compared to 2024. The drop was even more dramatic in year-over-year numbers for December, with visitation totaling 3.1 million visitors in 2025, down 9.2 percent from December 2024.
Image: Golden Gate
Spin Doctoring
Despite visitation tumbling, LVCVA CEO Steve Hill spun the numbers. He sent out a January press release arguing that Las Vegas still had a solid year and pointing out that occupancy rate of the destination’s approximately 150,000 hotel rooms finished the year at 80.3 percent, in comparison to the U.S. hotel occupancy average of 62.3%.
“Despite a challenging environment, convention demand remained steady, the events calendar remained strong, and the destination continued to adapt in real time,” says Hill as he projects a bounce-back year for 2026. “Our focus will continue to be providing value to our visitors and delivering experiences that elevate our place as the leading leisure and business destination.”
While not a large drop – the annual hotel occupancy rate was down 3.3 percent over 2024 – there was a time when Las Vegas would routinely average close to 90 percent occupancy, a remarkable feat.
Image: The Big D
A Looming Boycott?
What could be more alarming for 2026 is a further international boycott related to high costs, safety and politics. International tourists generally book trips far in advance, up to a year in many cases, meaning the 2025 numbers could reflect bookings made in 2024, prior to events triggering the tourism drop. Moving forward, visitation to the U.S. in 2026 could see an even more dramatic decline this year in response to the current administration – troubling news for not only Las Vegas but U.S. tourism in general.
International air passenger tallies to Las Vegas were down 7.4 percent last year, while Canadian airlines reported carrying 25 percent fewer passengers to the U.S., according to LVCVA consultants at Ailevon Pacific. While the airport data offers a helpful snapshot, the numbers include a mix of residents, visitors and connecting passengers meaning the figures provide a general indication of international visitation but should not be considered official counts.
But even though Las Vegas saw its fewest visitors since 2021, gaming revenue on the Strip remained steady at $8.8 billion. Downtown Vegas grew by 2.1 percent to $951.2 million and gaming revenue was slightly up statewide, coming in $15.8 billion, up 1.2 percent over 2024.
“Gaming revenue was $15.8 billion, so Vegas is humming, so that part’s good,” Stevens says. “But within that, when you peel back a couple layers of the onion, you notice that some groups are way up, some groups are flat and others are down.”
Image: Sports Bar at the D Las Vegas
A Hopeful Note
Stevens, however, is optimistic that Canadians will embrace his At Par promotion and return to Las Vegas. He says early response has been split among the people he’s spoken to.
“A lot of Canadians said they just didn’t feel welcome because our countries are in a fight and won’t be back right away,” Stevens says. “But I believe that this offer will bring quite a few Canadians back. Our economies are so integrated with one another. The United States and Canada are better together. I’m certainly hopeful that this spat is short-term in nature.”
*** This exclusive article was originally published in April 2026 edition of Casino Life Magazine Issue 186 Volume 22 ***
