South Dakota Casino RV Parking

This section contains information specifically about RVing from our own experience and directly from readers. Organized alphabetically by City and Casino Name.

We're camped near Sturgis at a Passport park, and drove into Deadwood yesterday afternoon for a quick reconnaissance trip. Parking is a pain. There are a few municipal lots that charge, and a little bit of on street parking in the historic district. We saw two very active meter reader cops handing out parking tickets at an amazing rate!

We found the free Sherman street lot - it's further away, but we don't mind walking a bit. Several casinos/hotels have small private lots for use only when you are on their property - you're not supposed to park there and than wander around town. They usually want you to register for the lot at the gate or at the front desk. There are three campgrounds in town - we only saw one so far - the Days of 76 CG on the north end of town. It's fairly small, and they charge $25.00 per night for water and electric h/u's.

We checked out a lot of the larger and a few of the smaller casinos in the historic area. LOTS of slots (we didn't play them) and mighty slim pickings for video poker (our favorite is FPDW). The few VP machines they do have don't have the best pay tables - I've seen worse, but these aren't FP. The best place we found for our preferences was the Four Aces. We broke even after playing for about an hour, so that wasn't too bad.

Be aware that drinks aren't always complimentary - some places offer beer or such to players, but if you want something else, they charge.

We're going to be here for about a week; will post more when we have more information/opinions. -Pat

I haven't seen any good boondocking sites around here. Lots of places are signed "No Camping" - probably because it's so close to Sturgis, and things probably get pretty wild during rally time. (Sturgis pretty much exists to support the bike rally every August. Lots of businesses are closed except for about two weeks around the rally. It's a fairly poor town - not many redeeming qualities that we could find). We're at the Rush-No-More CG a few miles from Sturgis - it's Passport America, $12.50 per night. We didn't want to pull our trailer to Deadwood, so just drive in when we want. (Note: most campgrounds in the Black Hills area state in their write-ups that discounts are not valid during the bike rally).

The larger casinos have table games - blackjack and 3-card poker, limits $2.00 to $100.00 - that's the limit per state law.

A few casinos have poker rooms with Texas Hold-em. At the Silverado, we saw a no-limit game in progress - the blinds were at $200 and $400, and the game required a $3000 bankroll to enter. A little rich for my blood, but I would like to try a low-limit game sometime.

There is a nice-sounding restaurant at the Midnight Star - one of Kevin Costner's enterprises in the area. The menu had items like buffalo rib-eye steaks, salmon, walleye, etc. for about $25 to $35 per entree. We didn't eat there, but it looked a little more upscale than most places. We ate dinner at the Silverado buffet - not gourmet, but they did have buffalo on the carving station and bananas foster for dessert, and you get a 30% senior discount if you're over 50 and have a players club card. (The bill was about $18.00 for two of us). The buffet at the Four Aces didn't look like anything special either - or maybe I'm just spoiled by the Las Vegas dining scene! Several good breakfast deals around town.

I mentioned before that parking is a pain - they do have some municipal lots outside the historic area, and a trolley to the casinos for 50 cents per ride. -Pat

We went to Cadillac Jack's yesterday - decent amount of free parking (no room for RV's) - register your plate number at the front desk. While you're at the front desk, pick up a hotel manager's business card - on the reverse is a coupon you can use with $5.00 to place a $10.00 bet on blackjack.

Mostly slots; a few Game King machines with various poker games. We played nickel bonus deuces - between us we put in $60.00 and left with $120.00 - I hit a 4 deuces, and two minutes later, Craig hit it again. Not bad for a short session of nickel play. Well drinks are comped while you're playing. Didn't try their restaurant, but the menu looked halfway decent.

We drove up into the national forest a bit to get to the Mystic trailhead of the Michelson trail - that's a rail-trail that runs north-south through the Black Hills for over 100 miles. On the way, we saw some forest roads that looked like they had good boondocking potential - I'd scout first, but you should be able to find something. Route 385 into the Black Hills has a two-and-a-half mile stretch of 7% grade as you go south from Deadwood. The best route we found into the Black Hills, for RV's, is Route 16 from Rapid City - fairly gentle grades, and it's dual-laned. Pick up an area map anyplace (most campgrounds have them) - DO NOT take RV's onto some of the scenic roads that have tunnels; we barely fit through a couple of the tunnels with our one-ton dually!

Will be leaving this area tomorrow, heading for Devil's Tower and then on to Denver, so won't be in casinoland for awhile. -Pat

The report on your site about Deadwood by Pat is very good so I don't have much to add.

Deadwood , South Dakota '76 RV Campground

The '76 Campground doesn't have a lot to offer except for very good access to Deadwood. There are plans underway for a complete remodeling of the campground and adjacent Days of '76 Museum. The shuttle ( $1.00 ) stops at the campground office but the walk into town is very easy along a wide paved biking /hiking trail.

As you wander through town don't miss all of the free attractions - Days of '76 Museum , Adams Museum , History and Information Center , Kevin Costner's movie memorabilia at the Moonlight Star and more movie memorabilia both the Celebrity and the Mint casinos. There's a reenactment of Wild Bill's shooting several times a day and a little play of the trial every night which is only $3.00. It depends heavily on audience participation so it's funny as well as being informative.

There's a free city dump station right before the campground office. No potable water though. If you're in town just for the day there's room at the 76 Rodeo grounds for motorhomes. Free parking and a shuttle stop or walk the trail into town.

Royal River Casino & Hotel
Location	607 S. Veterans Street Flandreau, SD 57028
RV Status	RV Park Free overnight parking is OK too
Phone	(605) 997-3746
Web	www.royalrivercasino.com
Map of area	Google Map
Video Poker	Poor
Misc. Info
Reports	See below -- Send an updated report

There isn’t a specific area for RV parking so we parked at the far edge of the lot by the hotel. The parking lot is big and even though the casino was busy there were still a lot of empty spaces. Truck parking is at the other end of the casino so it’s quiet at night There’s also a campground.

The casino is small but nice and seems to be either new or newly remodeled. We were there at the end of June and it was very busy. The campground was filled Friday and Saturday nights. We arrived Sunday afternoon and played very little in the casino because there weren’t enough machines for the amount of people. Monday was still busy but it was possible to find available machines. The casino has a good variety of slot machines and a few banks of video poker with poor pay tables. They also have about six tables and a poker room.

Food is very reasonable. The buffet and restaurant share the same seating area and there’s also a snack bar. The breakfast special is served until 11:00 AM , two eggs , two sausages and two pancakes for $1.99. Lunch special is a patty melt and fries for $ 2.99. For dinner ( not a special , just a menu item ) there’s a stir fry area. For under $7.00 , you’re given a choice of shrimp , steak or chicken and your choice of vegetables which are all stir fried and served over rice or pasta.

North of Sioux Falls, SD. Interstate 29, Exit 114, then east 7 miles to Flandreau.

600 slots plus BJ tables, poker area and bingo. Buffet and restaurant. 22 back in RV spaces adjacent to hotel and casino. Register at hotel ($10.00/night) to receive padlock key which opens the electric box for your assigned space. Electric and cable at site. Potable water fill station and a dump station.

Golden Buffalo Casino & Hotel
Location	321 Sitting Bull St. Lower Brule, SD 57548
RV Status	Overnight RV parking is OK
Phone	(605) 473-5577
Web	www.lbst.org/casino.htm
Map of area	Google Map
Video Poker	None
Misc. Info
Reports	See below -- Send an updated report

The main parking lot is shared by the hotel , convention center and casino and since it isn’t very large space is limited. It’s possible to park a few RV along the street in front of the parking lot. The space is long enough for RVs with toads. We parked in the side lot which appeared to be rarely used. If you have a large RV you may want to check it out first because there is only one entrance / exit.

Lode Star Casino
Location	SD Hwy 50 & SD Hwy 34 Ft. Thompson, SD 57339
RV Status	Overnight RV parking is OK
Phone	(605) 245-6000
Web	www.lodestarcasino.com
Map of area	Google Map
Video Poker	None
Misc. Info
Reports	See below -- Send an updated report

We were passing by this casino so we made a quick stop to check it out. There are no spots marked specifically for RVs but there are a few extra long spaces under the big casino sign. There’s also a very nice COE lake campground a few miles south on route 47.

The casino is small but a bit plusher than the other Indian casinos in southwestern South Dakota. A good selection of slot machines. No VP.

We stayed here overnight on June 11th, 2008. Casino is sort of perched on a hill with a nice view of the surrounding Missouri River valley (picture attached.) VERY popular with boaters (at least when we were there.) Lots of (free) electrical hookups, but virtually all of them were taken up with boats recharging their batteries. One gentleman was nice enough to move his boat so we could plug in for the night. Parking area was rather muddy in spots. Somewhat noisy in the morning with all the fishermen getting their boats ready. Not a bad overnight stop, but I probably wouldn't stay much longer than that.

I didn't see the Grand River Casino in South Dakota on your list, so I thought I would share some info.

We haven't been there yet but are passing through that way this summer. I emailed ahead to see about overnight RV parking and got a very prompt reply. The marketing director said that yes, RV parking is allowed next to the casino lodge and they do offer electrical hookups. They also run a full-service campground about a mile from the casino property. Hope that helps someone!

Prairie Wind Casino
Location	HC 49, Box 10 Pine Ridge, South Dakota 57770
RV Status	Overnight RV parking is OK
Phone	1-800-705-WIND
Web	Web Site
Map of area	Google Map
Video Poker	None
Misc. Info
Reports	See below -- Send an updated report

There’s no area marked for RVs so we just parked at the far end of the lot. It’s paved , fairly level and very quiet at night. East on US 18 goes through the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and there are really no campgrounds until Martin which has a free dry camping park. Martin is over sixty miles away so the casino is a good overnight spot .

Even though the casino has recently added a hotel and expanded it’s gaming area , it’s still relatively small with a good selection of new multi denomination , multi line slot machines. No VP but a few tables.