Craps, roulette and keno made their debut at casinos in Deadwood, South Dakota on July 1. The establishments invested thousands of dollars to implement the new games. David Schneiter, general manager at Cadillac Jack’s Gaming Resort, said, “We’ve been talking for the last year and a half, what can we do to reinvigorate Deadwood as a gambling destination? Before craps and roulette, we were just like any other place. Some of the surrounding areas like Iowa and Colorado do offer craps and roulette, but it just levels the playing field.” Schneiter added, “I think it has driven more people into our casino because we do offer these games.”
Prior to the launch, the Deadwood Gaming Association and the state brought in trainers from the Colorado Dealers School to teach the games to 58 craps dealers and 38 roulette dealers over a six-week course.
The game that’s bringing the most excitement to the floor, Schneiter said, is craps. “I was surprised at how many people actually know how to play the game and are very, very good at playing craps,” he said.
Cadillac Jack’s also offers two roulette wheels, and two more are located at Tin Lizzie Casino. At the beginning of the month, four Deadwood casinos started offering roulette. Mike Rodman, executive director of the Deadwood Gaming Association, said, “These are some of the very first roulette tables in the country with this design. It certainly lets the player know that they’ve won, tells them when to place their bets, tells them when they can’t bet anymore.”
Three casinos offer keno. “We wanted to give our customers all the games they were asking for,” Schneiter said.
Rodman said it will take about six months to see the numbers and percentages on the new games. “We’ve gotten a lot of play on them so we’re very, very excited. It’s going to change the image of Deadwood. Deadwood now is really a full-fledged gaming destination where we weren’t before.”
Rodman said some casinos don’t have the space to offer the tables, and others are too busy now to introduce new games. Other operations said they want to wait to see how the games play out.
