DEADWOOD, S.D. (AP) – Twenty-five years after voters approved gaming in Deadwood, residents are turning back to casinos as the historic mining town works to reinvent itself.
The city hopes a handful of new, voter-backed games expected to hit the town in July will make it more competitive with gaming destinations across the country. But Deadwood’s recently downgraded historical status is a reminder to advocates that the nearly 140-year-old city needs to remember the roots of its past success.
A measure authorizing the new games must pass through the Legislature before casinos can move forward, but even opponents of gaming don’t expect lawmakers to block the wishes of South Dakota’s voters, who overwhelmingly approved Amendment Q in the November elections.
Large casinos are more likely to offer the new games: keno, craps and roulette.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.
