MEMO: AMERISTAR PURCHASES TWO MISSOURI CASINOS

Ameristar Casinos Inc., has announced it will buy two Missouri riverboat casinos from Station Casinos Inc. for $475 million.

Ameristar will sell the Reserve hotel-casino in Henderson, Nev., to Station for $70 million.

The acquisitions of the riverboats in Kansas City, Mo., and St. Charles, Mo., are expected to be completed by the end of the year. The Nevada deal is expected to close late this year or early next year.

Ameristar and Station Casinos are both based in Las Vegas.

The Reserve would be Station's seventh property in the Las Vegas Valley, and the third acquisition announced by Station this year. Station already has completed its purchase of the Santa Fe and plans to complete its buyout of the Fiesta in January. Station also has Palace, Boulder, Sunset and Texas properties in the Las Vegas area and is building a resort with American Nevada Corp., sister company of the Las Vegas Sun, a few miles west of the Reserve.

The two Missouri properties recorded more than $400 million in gaming revenues in the last fiscal year, according to the Missouri Gaming Commission.