\n
Steve Slowey purchased Hickock’s during the COVID-19 pandemic for $4 million. Slowey then partnered with Oswald Entertainment, based in Nashville but with a lengthy history in Deadwood, and the combined ownership group announced the property’s rebranding plan in May.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Marc Oswald, CEO of Oswald Entertainment, was one of the original partners of the Deadwood Mountain Grand, which opened in April 2013. Oswald is also a live music promoter in Nashville. In Deadwood, Oswald Entertainment produces the “Deadwood Live! Open Air Music Series” throughout the summer in Outlaw Square. The concert park is directly adjacent to the Hard Rock Rocksino at the intersection of Main and Deadwood.<\/p>\n
Hard Rock First<\/b><\/h2>\n
Slowey and Oswald in May reached an agreement with Hard Rock International, the casino and hospitality conglomerate owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, to renovate the former Hickok’s into the town’s “finest boutique hotel-gaming-restaurant-retail operation.”<\/p>\n
While most Hard Rock hotels feature hundreds or thousands of rooms, the Deadwood location comes with just 28 guestrooms. Oswald said that will result in the Hard Rock brand bringing new guests to town, but not only for his property’s benefit.<\/p>\n
\nWe’ve only got 28 hotel rooms, so the traffic we expect to be able to bring into Deadwood is going to result in a lot of spillover traffic,” Oswald said. “We believe the rising tide lifts all boats.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The Hard Rock Rocksino gaming space is also vastly smaller than a typical Hard Rock casino. While Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa features nearly 5,000 slot machines and over 200 live dealer table games, its Deadwood boutique casino<\/a> has only 86 slot machines. No table games are offered.<\/p>\nOswald said the reason the owners and Hard Rock settled on the “Rocksino” label is to differentiate the property from Hard Rock’s destination-type casino resorts.<\/p>\n
“The reason it’s called Rocksino by Hard Rock is because it’s a boutique Hard Rock casino and hotel,” Oswald explained to News Center 1, <\/i>an NBC affiliate in Rapid City. “It’s a Hard Rock experience in a boutique setting.”<\/p>\n