Derek Stevens buys Mermaids and La Bayou

Downtown Las Vegas king Derek Stevens plans to expand his Fremont Street empire even further. He has agreed to purchase Mermaids and La Bayou casinos, as well as the Glitter Gulch strip club.

Those properties will close on June 27th. The real estate will then be used to facilitate the expansion and remodeling of the Stevens owned property formerly known as Las Vegas Club.

Expanding the Las Vegas Club space into the Mermaids space seems like a great idea, as it will extend the property down into the heart of Fremont Street - attracting more foot traffic.

Expansion of Golden Gate - also owned by Stevens - into the La Bayou space also seems like a possibility, but it's kind of hard to tell at this point.

Derek Stevens has quickly become one of the most popular casino owners in Las Vegas by interacting directly with his customers at the bar and in the casino. Rumor has it he shakes so many hands every day that he has to soak his hand in ice each night.

Stevens has also gained international notoriety with some of the creative marketing techniques he's used to promote The D and Golden Gate.

Boyd buys Aliante

Boyd Gaming is expanding their reach in the Las Vegas locals market as they have agreed to purchase Aliante Casino and Hotel for $380 million.

Boyd seems to be in a buying mood as they are also rumored to be nearing a deal to purchase Cannery Casino Resorts which would give them even more Las Vegas locals exposure.

Las Vegas locals is Boyd's bread and butter so these deals make perfect sense.  Is too much of Boyd's revenue is concentrated in one market though?  I wonder if Boyd will be looking to acquire more properties outside of Vegas.

Boyd still doesn't have a property on the Strip though after abandoning the Echelon Place development a number of years back.

It's interesting that Boyd at one point was set to open a multi-billion dollar resort complex on the Strip, and now they're reduced to buying Aliante and Cannery.