The Las Vegas Club is closed. The downtown casino at Fremont and Main shut down in August 2015 after brothers Derek and Greg Stevens bought it, its buildings were torn down starting in 2017, and the site is now part of Circa Resort & Casino, which opened in October 2020. Here is the Las Vegas Club’s history, how it ended, and what stands there now.
Las Vegas Club at a Glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Status | Closed in August 2015; demolished 2017 to 2018 |
| Location | 18 Fremont Street at Main Street, west end of the Fremont Street Experience |
| Opened | 1930 (moved to 18 Fremont Street in 1949) |
| Last owner before the sale | Tamares Group |
| Site today | Circa Resort & Casino, owned by Derek and Greg Stevens |
| Last checked | November 2026 |
Las Vegas Club History
The Las Vegas Club opened on Fremont Street in late 1930. In 1949 it moved across the street to the ground floor of the old Overland Hotel at 18 Fremont Street, the address it kept until the end.
In 1962 Jackie Gaughan, Mel Exber and a partner bought the club and the Overland Hotel. Under them the Las Vegas Club took on a sports theme, and its Sports Hall of Fame displayed Exber’s baseball memorabilia, including World Series bats and Dodgers items. The first hotel tower was finished in 1980, and a second, 16-story tower opened as part of a 1996 expansion that took the hotel past 400 rooms.
The club was also known for its blackjack rules. It promoted “the world’s most liberal blackjack,” with options such as doubling on any number of cards, splitting any number of times, surrender after hitting and an automatic win on a six-card charlie.
Gaughan agreed to sell to Barrick Gaming at the end of 2002, and the sale closed in 2004. Tamares Group bought out Barrick’s stake in 2005. Tamares also owned the Plaza across Main Street.
The Final Years and the 2015 Closing
The Las Vegas Club shrank in its last decade. Its Italian restaurant, Tinoco’s Kitchen, closed in 2012. The hotel switched to weekend-only bookings in January 2012 and closed for good at the end of April 2013, though the casino stayed open. A 2015 plan by Tamares to put a CVS pharmacy in part of the building drew opposition from other downtown casino owners.
On August 14, 2015, Derek and Greg Stevens announced they had bought the Las Vegas Club. At the time it had 327 slot machines and 19 table games. The table games closed on August 16, and the casino closed shortly after midnight on August 20, 2015. The sports memorabilia was later sold to the public.
The Stevens brothers bought the neighboring Mermaids casino and Glitter Gulch in 2016. Demolition of the Las Vegas Club began in 2017, with the hotel towers coming down that fall, and work continued into early 2018.
What Replaced the Las Vegas Club: Circa
Circa Resort & Casino stands on the land once occupied by the Las Vegas Club, Mermaids and Glitter Gulch, at 8 Fremont Street. The casino opened on October 28, 2020, and the hotel followed on December 28, 2020.
- Adults only: Circa is 21 and over.
- Hotel: 35 floors, with 618 rooms since four more floors opened in October 2024.
- Circa Sports: a three-story, stadium-style sportsbook with seating for about 1,000.
- Stadium Swim: a rooftop pool area with six pools above the casino, heated so it runs year-round.
- Garage Mahal: a nine-story garage across the street, linked to the resort by a skybridge.
Where to Play Instead
Downtown still has plenty of low-limit games. For the best paytables, see our guide to the best casinos for video poker in Las Vegas, and for rules worth looking for, our guide to the best places to play blackjack in Las Vegas.
You can also brush up before your trip with our guides to blackjack, craps, Three Card Poker and slot machines. For video poker, we cover games including Deuces Wild, Double Double Bonus and other casino games.
Las Vegas Club FAQ
When did the Las Vegas Club close?
The hotel closed at the end of April 2013. The table games closed on August 16, 2015, and the rest of the casino closed early on August 20, 2015.
What is on the Las Vegas Club site now?
Circa Resort & Casino, which opened in October 2020 on the land once occupied by the Las Vegas Club, Mermaids and Glitter Gulch.
Who owns Circa?
Brothers Derek and Greg Stevens, who bought the Las Vegas Club in 2015.
Was the Las Vegas Club on Fremont Street?
Yes. It sat on the northeast corner of Fremont and Main, at the west end of the Fremont Street Experience, directly across Main Street from the Plaza.