Forest fire shuts down casinos in South Dakota

Joe Kafka

Tuesday, July 2, 2002 | 9:47 a.m.

DEADWOOD, S.D. -- Closed casinos, deserted streets and the lingering smell of smoke turned this historic gold-rush community into a ghost town for a little more than two days.

Gone for the first time since legalized gambling began here on Nov. 1, 1989, were the flashing lights, whirling wheels and maniacal music of slot machines.

Even fierce winter weather has not been able to quiet the din of gambling because many of the casinos are shrouded by hotels, and trapped guests passed the time by placing their bets.

Casino owners lost a bundle in gambling revenues on Saturday afternoon, Sunday and Monday, not to mention food, drink and lodging.

Brian Carmichael, general manager of the Holiday Inn Express, was busy answering phones Monday, telling potential customers and those with reservations that the town has not burned down.

"It was close, but it's looking pretty good now," he tells one caller at midday.

Later, standing outside the hotel as dusk settled over the city, Carmichael was excited that the evacuation because of a forest fire was over and business would be getting back to normal. Spying a car and a pickup coming from opposite directions on Main Street, which is often packed with bumper-to-bumper traffic, Carmichael's eyes lit up.

"Even just a few cars makes me feel better," he said, adding that employees of the hotel and its casino operations would be ready for business at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

"We're going to work through the night and be raring to go in the morning," Carmichael said.

Larry Eliason, executive secretary of the state Gaming Commission, said July is the second-busiest month for Deadwood casinos. Each day the slot machines and card tables were shut down probably resulted in a loss of $300,000 in gambling revenues, he said, adding that the number is an estimate based on last year's activity and the fact that gambling revenues have increased every month since June of 2001.

There currently are 2,600 slot machines and card tables in Deadwood, Eliason said, compared to 2,465 a year ago.

Although the town was packed with gamblers and tourists when the evacuation was announced Saturday, there appeared to have been no problems in closing the casinos, he said.

"As far as I know, everything was orderly," Eliason said. "They know what the procedure is."

Tom Hill, operations officer for the Bullock Hotel and casino, said the fire chased away business during one of the peak periods of the year. He's hoping that the word will get out quickly that the town survived without damage.

"Deadwood is fine. The scenic beauty has not been spoiled," Hill said.

Stan Anderson of Wall, a part-owner of the Holiday Inn Express and Gold Dust gambling complex up the street, said police and agents from the Gaming Commission did a good job of watching the empty casino district.

"There's millions of dollars in these casinos," Anderson said Monday morning as he prepared to deliver some luggage to a roadblock so a couple of visiting Californians could go home. Like many others, the couple had been staying in Deadwood and could not retrieve their belongings because of the evacuation.

Anderson also had been answering the hotel's constantly ringing telephone. One caller wondered if she should cancel her reservation for the end of July. He suggested that it's unlikely the fire would last that long.

"We're closed because of the fire," he told another caller. "You can't get here even if you wanted to. The roads are closed."

Like others in the gambling and lodging business here, Anderson was relieved that the evacuation was lifted at 8 p.m. Monday. Deadwood businesses depend to a large extent on the summer tourist season, although the town sells itself as a year-round destination.

"This is our harvest time of the year," Anderson said. "It's devastating to be closed so close to the Fourth of July."

The hotel complex and Gold Dust gambling parlors employ about 200 people, and many of them lost valuable work hours during the evacuation, he said.

When a reporter stopped by the hotel Monday, the front door handles were secured with a large chain and padlock, and a small step ladder was wedged over the inside handles of another door.

Because the hotel was built to always be open, the public entrances have no locks. When the evacuation came, some Yankee ingenuity was required, Anderson said.

"We had to tie our doors shut," he said. "We tied ropes around slot machines so anybody who tried to get in would have to tip them over."