Game Technology and the Rio hotel-casino, both in Las Vegas. In the 2000s, Stevens became a stockholder in Riviera Holdings, which owned the Riviera resort on the Las Vegas Strip. Stevens, through his company Desert Rock Enterprises, owned more than 1 million shares in the Strip resort. He invested in Las Vegas because Nevada has no state income tax. Stevens, a sports fan, purchased the Las Vegas 51s baseball team in 2008. He owned it through Stevens Baseball Group, of which he was the chief executive. He sold the team four years later to a group that included Howard Hughes Corporation. Although downtown Las Vegas is overshadowed by the Las Vegas Strip, Stevens believed that downtown hotel-casinos presented less expensive opportunities for a hotel revival of the area. In addition, Stevens did not have adequate financing to fully enter the Las Vegas Strip market. Stevens' brother Greg is an engineer who maintains a low-profile, in contrast to Derek's personality. The two have partnered on several projects, which helped revitalize the Fremont Street area of downtown Las Vegas. Derek Stevens serves as the public face for their projects. In 2008, they became co-owners in the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino in downtown Las Vegas. It took Stevens 18 months to receive a gaming license, and the Great Recession occurred as the brothers entered the gaming industry, although this would provide further opportunities for them because of reduced land values. The Riviera filed for bankruptcy in 2010, and Stevens became one of its owners upon reorganization of the resort. He later sold his interest to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. In 2011, the Stevens brothers purchased the Fitzgeralds hotel-casino in downtown Las Vegas and rebranded it a year later as The D Las Vegas, a reference to Derek's nickname "D". In 2013, he purchased the former Clark County Courthouse nearby, and demolished it to build the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, which opened a year later. In 2014, Stevens became the first Las Vegas hotel-casino owner to accept bitcoin, although the currency is only used for non-gaming purchases. In 2015, the Stevens brothers purchased the Las Vegas Club in downtown and eventually announced plans to build a new resort in its place. In 2016, they purchased the adjacent Mermaids Casino and Glitter Gulch strip club, both of which were demolished along with the Las Vegas Club. The Stevens had the