Statistics released on Friday from the South Dakota Commission on Gaming show Deadwood’s July gaming handle was up 7.3% over July of 2023. Overall numbers remain up over calendar year 2023 by 2.49%.

According to the South Dakota Department of Revenue, gamblers in Deadwood wagered $2.7 million on sports in 2021, $7.2 million in 2022 and $9 million in 2023, a 26% increase from the year prior.

In its heyday, the gold-mining town of Deadwood, S.D., nestling in a steep-sided gulch in the Black Hills, was a brawling, ripsnorting oasis of 25,000 people, pungent with gunsmoke and ribaldry ...