Fremont Street Experience’s “Undercover Boss” to Step Down
Andrew Simon, who helmed Fremont Street Experience (FSE) for five years and was featured on “Undercover Boss,” is leaving his post.
We dug deeply, but we’re disappointed to report Simon’s departure is mostly free of drama, much like his tenure as President and CEO of Fremont Street Experience.
From what we can tell, Simon was poached by an out-of-state company he describes as not being competitive to FSE. Not fired. No sex scandal. No embezzlement or dumbassery. Just moving on to another gig. Oh, we have thoughts, but still. Not even an embarrassing pic from a company holiday party? Come on!
For background, Fremont Street Experience is a marketing collective representing many of the casinos along Fremont Street. The company oversees security, maintenance and operates SlotZilla. FSE’s prime directive is to attract visitors to Fremont Street.
Andrew Simon entered the fray during COVID, the best time ever to enter a fray.
Not.
Like all tourist destinations, Fremont Street Experience was brutalized by the pandemic. FSE’s previous President and CEO, Patrick Hughes, reportedly vacated the job due to emotional fallout from dealing with the stress of staff layoffs and economic uncertainty related to the Dark Times.
We worked at Fremont Street Experience under Hughes and the president before him, Jeff Victor, now an executive involved with the Stevens casinos downtown (Circa, The D and Golden Gate).
Andrew Simon dodged a bullet by never having to deal with us, a noted digital marketing prima donna.
Patrick Hughes had it particularly tough, as we did Vital Vegas as a hobby while doing marketing for FSE as our day job. We’ve never pulled our punches, which caused some friction if we wrote critical things about FSE member casinos or other casinos around town. Those casinos went after Hughes because the perception was he should have more control over his employee. We aren’t really controllable and don’t envy anyone we’ve worked for or under.
Anyway, we were furloughed due to COVID and we left permanently when Vital Vegas became part of Casino.org. Because, ultimately, every story has to circle back to being about us.
That’s why we can be objective about Simon’s contribution to the evolution of Fremont Street Experience, a place we loved for decades before it became so loud it causes permanent hearing damage. To people in St. George, Utah. Seriously, it’s way too loud.
Anyway, Andrew Simon had a very different skillset and management style than Jeff Victor (with a background in concerts, festivals, special events, stage shows and amusement parks) and Patrick Hughes (with a background of being Irish).
Simon wasn’t flashy or driven by ego (unlike Hughes, who dumped a million dollars into a doomed sitcom called “The Downtown Vegas Reality Show,” that will never see the light of day, featuring himself), except for an appearance on “Undercover Boss.” Otherwise, he stayed under the radar. Fun fact: Members of the maintenance crew at FSE spend two hours a day cleaning up gum.
He wasn’t really responsible for any big ideas, but also wasn’t the source of any debacles. (Hughes also lost millions on a year-round zombie-themed attraction. He did shepherd an upgrade to the Fremont Street Experience canopy, no small feat.)
Simon’s strength was being an employee advocate and prioritizing safety for the venue once known for being a smidge sketchy in that regard.
Simon oversaw the opening of a Metro substation in 2023. Not a big headline, but a serious move to instill confidence in guests that law enforcement (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Deputy City Marshals and FSE security share the substation located at the base of the SlotZilla zipline tower) is nearby and illegal horseshit shall not be tolerated.
When was the last time you heard a report about a stabbing or shooting on Fremont Street, or viewed a brawl video? Those were everywhere at one time. Now, not so much. That is a very big deal.
Simon is an affable guy and managed to do what few can. He navigated the complexities of working for a group of competitors who pretend to love each other in their function as board members of Fremont Street Experience.
It’s a wild dynamic nobody really talks about except us because we honestly DGAF.
How is Circa, built at a cost of more than $1 billion, not an official share-holding member of Fremont Street Experience? How does the owner of Binion’s and Four Queens, Terry Caudill, get more of a say about what happens at Fremont Street Experience than Circa owner Derek Stevens (who also owns The D and Golden Gate)? Terry Caudill has two “shares,” Stevens has 1.5 shares (one share for The D and .5 for Golden Gate). When Circa opened, all the shares were gone. Shares equal votes. Biggest. WTF. Possibly ever.
How do Derek Stevens and Boyd Gaming exist together in any plane of existence? Stevens is all about fresh and bold and risk (he removed all the live table games at Golden Gate, for gawd’s sake), while Boyd is all about status quo, say “no” to everything and “don’t rock the boat.”
FSE member casinos are: Binion’s, The D, Four Queens, Golden Gate, Golden Nugget and Fremont casino. Not full-fledged members: Circa (associate), Main Street (associate), The Cal (associate). Non-members: Downtown Grand, Plaza and El Cortez. All the non-members have juicy backstories, for another time.
Most of the FSE drama is behind-the-scenes, while everyone plays nice publicly. How is that fun or entertaining, at all?
Anyway, Andrew Simon wasn’t universally beloved, but who is?
If it ain’t broke, don’t break it. Quiet and effective isn’t going to move any needles, but it also prevents the needle from going in the wrong direction.
Are “higher rates of employee retention” sexy? How about “increased revenue from the FSE-owned parking structure”? Um, no.
Simon steps down from his role officially on Nov. 21, 2025.
The biggest question: Which middle-aged white guy will get the job next?
The news release says: “The ideal candidate will have experience working in the entertainment industry, with both public and private hotel and casino owners, as well as local political leaders, to further enhance the downtown Las Vegas community.”
There really is no job that can prepare anyone to head up Fremont Street Experience. It’s part accountant, part showman. There are always deals to be made, and new challenges facing a very weird venue. Fremont Street it public, which means FSE’s hands are tied when it comes to things like managing buskers. You know, First Amendment and all.
Millions of dollars are sacrificed by FSE each year because companies won’t do buy-outs in a place where a guy used to hold a “Kick Me in the Nuts, $20” sign.
First and foremost, the FSE boss has to be able to deal with personalities. Politicians, law enforcement, employees.
Secondarily, the ideal candidate has to understand the value of the Golden Goose: SlotZilla.
Prior to the zipline (Jeff Victor gets credit for that, despite being fired later, one of the biggest bonehead moves in the history of the Fremont Street Experience board), member casinos paid tens of thousands of dollars each month in dues to Fremont Street Experience. The zipline changed everything.
Simon kept the safety record of the zipline squeaky clean during his time at FSE. The next candidate will need to do the same.
We love us some Fremont Street Experience, despite our occasional gripes about the volume (FSE isn’t going to fight with Derek Stevens about this, he likes things loud), the fake weed stores (not an FSE thing, a City of Las Vegas thing), the pickle tub drummers (our nation’s forefathers did not mean to include these idiots when they created the First Amendment) and the piss-poor upkeep of Vegas Vic (again, not an FSE thing, but it’s on Fremont Street and needs to be addressed more aggressively).
Fremont Street Experience can’t rest on its laurels.
The next guy needs to be inventive about creating new partnerships, new events, more reasons for people to visit Fremont Street.
During our time at FSE, we focused on value and the fact FSE is a 24/7/365 party. The messaging was fun and irreverent (shocker). Lately, especially in social, the messaging has been unoriginal and forgettable.
There will never be another us (FSE’s Facebook audience grew 10x during our reign, for example), but there’s no better venue to play up the wild side of Vegas, the escape, the circus that people associate with Fremont Street Experience.
Drinking and gambling and free live entertainment should sell themselves, but it’s actually much more complex than that.
We would take the FSE President and CEO job, but we are very busy with snark and Double Double Bonus video poker. Also, no way we’re getting sprayed in the face with pepper spray (a ritual of the FSE security team so they know what it’s like), which we assume any FSE president does because nobody would ask an employee to endure something they don’t, right?
Oh, look, another reason we wouldn’t want to be our boss. Smartassery.
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