With three Vegas hotels and a net worth estimated by Forbes to be $1.2 billion, Derek Stevens has been a longtime casino mogul in Sin City. As visitor numbers dwindle and fears have grown that the gambling mecca is dying, Stevens has laid blame on the declining tourist numbers at the hands of a more unlikely source - Spirit Airlines.
Las Vegas had 3.1 million fewer visitors last year than in 2024, the sharpest decline outside of the pandemic since record-keeping began in 1970. Stevens, owner of The Circa, The D and Golden Gate casinos, told the Daily Mail he believes the bankruptcy of Spirit Airlines has contributed to the city hosting fewer tourists along with higher airfares and elevated gas prices as it has become increasingly expensive to get there.
'With Spirit's bankruptcy, that's a lot of less expensive flights that aren't happening anymore. So that's something that's had an impact, I would say, probably on Las Vegas more than some of the other markets,' he said.
Spirit Airlines has been aggressively trimming flights since making two Chapter 11 filings in the span of less than a year. In winter 2025, Spirit cut 3,409 flights bound for Vegas's Harry Reid International Airport, which was more than half the total it had offered the previous year.
The businessman also blamed widespread inflation and unfavorable exchange rates between American dollars, Canadian dollars and Japanese yen. 'You're seeing a combination of both exchange rate caused declines, as well as just a changing environment for travel in and of itself,' Stevens said.
The number of people visiting Las Vegas was lower in every month of 2025 compared with the previous year, and it declined again in January 2026, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The city had 38,545,700 visitors in 2025 compared to 41,676,300 for 2024.
Stevens said the downward momentum in those early months was likely due to big economic factors such as inflation and elevated post-pandemic costs for businesses, which have passed those expenses on to their customers. 'In general, costs are higher than what they were five years ago. So all of that plays into the entire customer experience,' the billionaire said.
Recent trends of higher average gas and jet fuel prices, which have climbed 40 percent and 70 percent respectively since the start of the Iran war, exacerbated the issue, Stevens added.
But even as Las Vegas faces fewer visitor numbers, Stevens's businesses are doing fabulously, he told the Daily Mail and he believes sports betting and conventions are helping the city survive. He pointed to wealthy guests making huge sports bets in his casinos and affordable deals for hotel stays to draw in guests to being the reason why his establishments have been resilient. The billionaire said his casinos often take 'seven-figure wagers' on big events such as the Super Bowl and NFL Playoffs.
'I think that's probably one of the reasons why we're maybe a bit more insulated from recessionary causes... Sports tourism has really, really been strong,' he said. 'Between conventions and between sports tourism, I envision Las Vegas continuing to grow,' he added.
In terms of Vegas more broadly he added: 'We've seen some rather significant growth in conventions,' Stevens said. 'So that's kind of offset some of the other areas.' He specifically mentioned a construction trade show called , which 'kind of blew away all records... I think we're seeing more and more of these large-scale conventions that have big impact,' Stevens said. 'I'm very bullish on the future of Las Vegas,' the billionaire put it simply.
Stevens said that foot traffic at his casino resorts is about the same as it was around this time last year, though he noted that there have been fewer Canadian and Japanese guests. Canadians, who have historically been the largest source of international tourists for Las Vegas, visited the city in far fewer numbers last year. About a quarter million fewer Canadians visited Las Vegas in 2025 due to tariffs and Trump's musings of making the country the 51st state, as well as unfavorable exchange rates. Canadian dollars are currently worth 27 percent less than US dollars.
Visitation from Japan has also suffered, as the yen has an even worse exchange rate. Up until the pandemic, a good benchmark equated about 100 yen to $1, but the current exchange rate is 100 yen to $0.63. Unfavorable exchange rates are particularly brutal in the context of Las Vegas's skyrocketing prices. A tourist's photo of a $74 receipt for a beer and a Bacardi drink at the Sphere went viral last year, and other complaints that have made headlines included hotel guests getting charged $25 for a bottle of water in their room's minibar.
For many, it has become financially impossible to visit Las Vegas, but Stevens said that his casinos and others have been making efforts to address affordability concerns. He said that Circa is launching an 'All In' package, which will be offered during summer months. For $400, which 'includes taxes, resort fees, the whole thing,' guests will be given two nights' stay, $100 in beverage credit, $100 in dining credit and a complimentary daybed reservation at Stadium Swim, the hotel's pool with a giant screen to watch sports.
Stevens also said that one of his other casinos, the Golden Gate, has a promotion called 'The Night Starts Here,' which offers an open bar between 6pm and 7pm and an envelope with between $5 and $1,000 of free slot play. 'I think the result of some of these higher price situations [is that] you're going to see different companies come out with good value-oriented packages,' Stevens said.
Whether that strategy will become widespread and draw back the millions of tourists who avoided Las Vegas last year remains to be seen. But in the meantime, Las Vegas's gambling industry has been humming along, buoyed by wealthy tourists placing large bets. The Nevada Gaming Control Board's most recent statistics showed a 1.5 percent increase in gaming revenue, or about $1.24 billion won from players, in February for the state's 443 major casinos when compared with the same month last year.
In the latest monthly statistics, February had a 2.1 percent uptick in visitor numbers, which was the first increase since December 2024. However there were still around 330,000 fewer visitors to Las Vegas in February 2026 when compared to the same month in 2024.
Between affordable promotions and a focus on sports betting, Stevens expects his casinos to experience even greater growth in the coming years, even if tourist numbers do not fully recover. Major events such as the World Cup over the summer and Major League Baseball games that will be hosted in the new Las Vegas Athletics ballpark stadium, which is under construction and expected to open in 2028, are 'going to really push sports tourism much further,' Stevens said.
Meanwhile, Spirit Airlines is preparing to cease operations after a last-ditch rescue effort reportedly collapsed, leaving the struggling budget carrier on the brink of collapse. The ailing airline had been hoping to secure a $500 million lifeline from the government to keep it afloat, but talks have failed to produce a deal. People familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal yesterday that Spirit has been unable to win sufficient backing from key bondholders and government officials, raising serious doubts over its ability to continue operating.
