DEADWOOD, S.D. (AP) - A casino owned by actor and director Kevin Costner has shut down after operating for 26 years in the western part of South Dakota.
Midnight Star in Deadwood permanently closed its doors Tuesday, leaving about 40 full- and part-time employees of the casino looking for work, the Rapid City Journal reported .
The closure comes four years after Costner put up 1,000 acres (405 hectares) he owned near Deadwood on the market for $14 million. A hotel management company, Deadwood Hospitality Resort LLC, paid about $7.5 million last year for just over 100 acres of that property.
No planned sale of the Midnight Star has been announced.
Costner opened the venue in 1991 because of his “deep love for Deadwood and the Black Hills of South Dakota and their historical importance in our country’s story,” he said. “I hoped that resurrecting and restoring the famed Phoenix Block Building would allow it, as the Midnight Star, to also become a part of the famed Deadwood story. … I was enormously proud of what the Midnight Star became.”
The casino was decorated with Costner’s movie memorabilia, and the venue also had a sports bar, gaming hall and Jakes, a fine dining restaurant. The space proved successful until age and increased competition from the gaming boom in the 1990s and 2000s left Midnight Star out of the spotlight.
“So it is with a heavy heart that I have to say that today (Tuesday) the lights of the Midnight Star will go out for the last time,” Costner said. “I will be eternally grateful for the dedication and hard work of all of the management and staff at the Midnight Star.”
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Information from: Rapid City Journal, https://www.rapidcityjournal.com
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