ASCA A SPAC I Acquisition Corporation

Ameristar Casinos, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASCA) announced today it has completed the previously announced purchase of all of the equity interests of Creative Casinos of Louisiana, L.L.C. ("Creative") from Creative Casinos, LLC. for $32.5 million. Ameristar expects to commence construction on July 20, 2012 and to complete the project in the third quarter of 2014.

Ameristar Casino Resort Spa Lake Charles will include a casino with approximately 1,600 slot machines and 60 table games, a hotel with 700 guest rooms (including 70 suites), a variety of food and beverage outlets, an 18-hole golf course, a tennis club, swimming pools, a spa and other resort amenities. It will also include 3,000 parking spaces, 1,000 of which will be in a garage. The resort will be developed on a 242-acre site leased from the Port of Lake Charles. Ameristar has retained Bergman, Walls & Associates as the architect, Meyer & Associates as the civil engineer and W.G. Yates & Sons as the general contractor.

"We're excited about the growth this opportunity will bring to our Company, and for the thousands of construction and permanent jobs we will create in Lake Charles," said Gordon R. Kanofsky, Chief Executive Officer. "In just two years, Ameristar Casino Resort Spa Lake Charles will begin serving southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas, including the Houston metropolitan area."

Forward-Looking Information This release contains certain forward-looking information that generally can be identified by the context of the statement or the use of forward-looking terminology, such as "believes," "estimates," "anticipates," "intends," "expects," "plans," "is confident that," "will," "would," "should," "could" or words of similar meaning, with reference to Ameristar or our management. Similarly, statements that describe our future plans, objectives, strategies, financial results or position, operational expectations or goals are forward-looking statements. It is possible that our expectations may not be met due to various factors, many of which are beyond our control, and we therefore cannot give any assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. For a discussion of relevant factors, risks and uncertainties that could materially affect our future results, attention is directed to "Item 1A. Risk Factors" and "Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 and "Item 2. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2012.

ABOUT AMERISTAR Ameristar Casinos is an innovative casino gaming company featuring the newest and most popular slot machines. Our 7,500 dedicated team members pride themselves on delivering consistently friendly and appreciative service to our guests. We continuously strive to increase the loyalty of our guests through the quality of our slot machines, table games, hotel, dining and other leisure offerings. Our eight casino hotel properties primarily serve guests from Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska and Nevada. We have been a public company since 1993, and our stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. We generate more than $1 billion in net revenues annually.

Visit Ameristar Casinos' website at www.ameristar.com (which shall not be deemed to be incorporated in or a part of this news release).

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CONTACT: Roxann M. Kinkade, APR Director of Communications Ameristar Casinos, Inc. 816-414-7007