Welcome to Harrah's Cherokee Valley River Casino & Hotel! Visit our newly opened casino located just outside the town of Murphy, NC which is approximately two hours away from Knoxville, Chattanooga. The Catawba Nation held a groundbreaking ceremony on July 22, 2020, to mark the start of construction on its new $273 million casino in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. The casino is expected to open by summer. Jul 22, 2020 CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C. (WBTV) - Wednesday was a day long in the making for the Catawba Nation tribe of South Carolina as leaders broke ground on land in Kings Mountain to build a new casino resort. Local leaders, attorneys and Catawba Nation Chief William Harris all say the casino is happening - and it’s happening fast.
North Carolina is set to welcome an exciting new casino-resort soon. For years, the Catawbas Nation has been pushing to open a Vegas-style gambling venue in Kings Mountain, near Charlotte. Today, groundbreaking officially began on this new casino in Kings Mountain.
Gambling fans in this state are obviously excited. This new venue is expected to be one of the best casinos ever built in North Carolina. Today, we’re going to look at what is currently planned for this new casino.
Let’s get into it!
Catawbas Nation Wins Approval to Build NC Casino
The past few months have been very interesting for the Catawbas Nation. This tribe has been working hard to open a new casino in North Carolina for years. Interestingly, the tribe is actually based in South Carolina, where most forms of gambling are banned.
It should come as no surprise to hear that the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians disapprove of the Catawbas’ casino plans. The EBCI currently operates the only casinos in North Carolina. This tribe feels that the Catawbas Nation is attempting to illegally break into their state’s gambling market.
Eventually, the Interior Department of North Carolina approved the Catawbas’ plans. Shortly afterward, the ECBI filed a lawsuit against this tribe. They argue that the tribe is “reservation shopping” and plans to open a casino on land that should belong to the EBCI.
Officials within the Catawbas Nation haven’t responded to this lawsuit. State leaders in North Carolina have yet to issue a formal statement on the matter, either. As of now, this tribe has the approval to begin construction on a new casino in Kings Mountain.
The EBCI is doing everything it can to stop these plans. Many residents in the state, however, are excited to hear that a massive new casino is being constructed here. From what’s being said, this will become North Carolina’s most impressive gambling property.
Groundbreaking Has Started on the New Casino in Kings Mountain
The Catawbas Nation has been discussing construction dates for its new casino for weeks. Reports began surfacing last week that groundbreaking would begin this Wednesday. That ended up true, and the first groundbreaking has officially started on this project.
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This venue is expected to cost $300 million to construct and open. As of now, the plan is for this casino to open by next spring. This could be delayed if the lawsuit filed by the EBCI begins to gain some steam in court.
Officials within Kings Mountain are excited to hear what’s being planned. The Catawbas Nation claims this new casino will produce 2,600 permanent jobs. 5,000 construction jobs will also be formed to make the casino itself.
Catawba Indian Nation Chief Bill Harris expressed his excitement about the new casino in Kings Mountain this week.
“We celebrate what a tribal government and a local and state government can achieve when they come together and treat each other equally,” he said.
It’s clear that the Catawbas feel this will be a successful casino. The constriction comes at an unusual time, though. Casinos around the country are experiencing major revenue drops and it’s unclear when this trend will change.
Will North Carolina’s sports betting industry help to bring in some much-needed revenue?
North Carolina Will Soon Allow Sports Betting
Back in May of 2018, the Supreme Court struck down PASPA. In doing so, every state in the country was given permission to set its own regulations on sports betting. A little over two years since the removal of PASPA, 24 states have passed laws to regulate the sports betting industry.
That includes North Carolina. Despite being a fairly anti-gambling state over the years, lawmakers in NC decided to approve a measure to allow in-person sports betting in July of last year. Unfortunately, no regulated sports betting options have become available here.
State leaders are still working to come up with specific tax rates and regulations for this new industry. There’s also a bill currently being considered to allow sports betting throughout the state. As of now, the plan is for sports betting to become available inside land-based casinos.
Some feel that sports betting will help bring North Carolina some much-needed revenue. As of now, the casinos here are struggling to bring in money. If online sports betting is allowed, the casino companies in the state can finally start bringing in money again.
It’s still unclear when the state’s sports betting regulations will become available. Obviously, things have been delayed due to the global pandemic. We’ll continue offering updates on this situation over the next few weeks!
Are you excited to hear about the new casino in Kings Mountain? Will this venue be successful? Let us know in the comments section below!
RALEIGH — On March 12, the Catawba Indian Nation held a press conference to present renderings and construction plans for a new destination casino on a site in Kings Mountain, North Carolina.
According to a press release, the U.S. Department of the Interior has taken the land in question into trust and, as a result, the Catawba Indian Nation can now move forward with the proposed project.
“The Nation is very thankful for the Department’s decision to take this land into trust, enabling us to achieve the promise of self-determination though economic development,” said Chief Harris in a statement.
“The Department has a very rigorous process for reviewing proposed trust land acquisitions. We are very thankful for the hard work of the Department’s solicitors and staff on our application, who carefully reviewed our history, including our historic land settlement, ensuring that it is consistent with the Supreme Court’s Carcieri decision,” Harris said.
The proposed destination casino and resort is projected to bring as many as 5,000 construction jobs and 4,000 permanent jobs to the King’s Mountain area. Supporters of the casino estimate it will bring $350 million in potential revenue to the town, which is located just 35 miles west of Charlotte.
The Catawba Indian Nation statement said that the tribe plans to “begin working closely with Gov. Cooper’s office so that the state of North Carolina can also benefit from the project in Kings Mountain.”
The proposed casino project, which was first discussed during tribal meetings in 2013, now is expected to include a $600 million 220,000-square-foot casino complex with an estimated 1,796 electronic gaming devices and 54 table games. There is a plan for a 1,500-room hotel, as well as restaurants, shopping and a full-sized concert and event venue.
The Catawba Indians are located in South Carolina, but claim tribal lands that extend north into the area of the casino project near King’s Mountain. The project has been met with strong opposition from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians located in North Carolina, which operate casinos further to the west of King’s Mountain.
The Catawba River is named after the tribe and originates in Western North Carolina. The word “catawba” means “the people of the river” in their Siouan language. The tribe’s name is also referenced in Catawba County, a foothills county whose county seat is Hickory. Catawba College, now located in Salisbury, was founded in Newton, a town in Catawba County.
The federal government terminated recognition of the tribe in 1959. In 1973, the Catawba Indian Nation reorganized and began the process of reestablishing federal recognition. In 1993, the federal government recognized the Catawba nation and paid, along with the state of South Carolina, a $50 million settlement for land claims.
The Eastern Band is promising to sue the U.S. government for “its illegal and corrupt decision” to allow Catawba casino to go forward.
In a press release, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians claim that the government is ignoring federal laws that prohibit the “Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina” from tribal government gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
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“The federal government has no right or authority to create a new reservation for the Catawba Nation across state lines, into Cherokee historical territory, just to build a casino,” Chief Richard Sneed said in a statement.
The statement also says that the Bureau of Indian Affairs also has yet to consult with the Cherokee on protection measures and that a possibility exists of archaeological artifacts and resources being discovered during construction on the proposed casino site.
“This decision creates a dangerous precedent for all federally recognized tribes that empowers corrupt developers and their lobbyists to use politicians to determine what laws and precedents are followed and which ones are ignored. This decision cannot and will not stand,” said Sneed.
The Cherokees operate two casinos west of King’s Mountain: Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort, which is 130 miles away; and Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino and Hotel, around 190 miles away. The Catawba casino would be located just 35 miles from Charlotte.
The casino project also drew harsh criticism in early 2019 from North Carolina state lawmakers after North Carolina’s two U.S. senators, Republicans Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, signed on as primary sponsors of a bill introduced by South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
U.S. Senate Bill 790, which has had no activity since being introduced in March of 2019, would have authorized the U.S. Department of the Interior to allow the South Carolina Catawba Nation to obtain around 16 acres near Kings Mountain in North Carolina for its proposed casino complex. With the Department of the Interior now taking the land into trust, the bill has been rendered unnecessary.
Thirty-eight N.C. state lawmakers signed a letter opposing the casino project bill. The letter dated May 16, was sent to the chairman and vice chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and called Senate Bill 790 an “unprecedented overreach.”
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The letter to the committee also said if the project was allowed to go forward it would “encroach upon Cherokee aboriginal territory defined in the Cherokee Treaty 1777 map.” The letter also said it would “deal an economic blow to a region of the state that depends on this industry and the thousands of jobs it provides annually.”
At the time, Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) said “This bill that was introduced by a South Carolina senator to allow property in North Carolina to be given to a South Carolina tribe is something that I would hope our representatives would fight.”
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House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican from Kings Mountain, took no position on the bill last year, despite it being proposed for his town.