A North Carolina casino says it's ready to reopen its doors to patrons. By Associated Press, Wire Service Content May 28, 2020 By Associated Press, Wire Service Content May 28, 2020, at 2:51 a.m. The Cherokee casino is undergoing a $330 million expansion. With so much money at stake, he’s at the center of a feud with two other tribes, in part over the possibility of more casinos coming to. A planned casino has taken yet another step toward becoming a reality. The Catawba Nation and the state of North Carolina signed a compact Jan. 22 which allows the state to share in revenues.
The Catawba Nation is reaching into history for its forthcoming, and still controversial, gaming facility on ancestral territory in North Carolina. The Catawba Two Kings Casino Resort draws its name from Catawba Chief King Hagler. During his leadership in the mid-1700s, he allied his nation with the American colonists who revolted against the British at the time of the Revolutionary War. “Catawba Two Kings Casino Resort celebrates our rich history and hopeful future in our ancestral lands in North Carolina – where our people were established hundreds of years ago, as the names Catawba River, Catawba County and Catawba College suggest,” Chief Bill Harris said in a news release on Monday. The logo for the Catawba Two Kings Casino Resort features a silhouette of King Hagler. set against a representation of Kings Mountain. A Revolutionary War battle took place at Kings Mountain, with the Catawbas fighting alongside the colonists. “The name pays tribute to the 18th century Catawba Chief King Hagler and to the City of Kings Mountain, which will be home to the new casino resort. It also symbolizes the unique relationship that the Catawba people have historically had – and will continue to strengthen going forward – with fellow residents of the region,” Harris said. The facility will be located at a 17-acre site near Kings Mountain in Cleveland County. The land falls within the service area that was defined by Congress through a land claim settlement act. The tribe began seeking federal approval to have the parcel placed in trust almost seven years ago. The Trump administration reversed its position on the matter in April after initially telling the Catawbas they couldn't acquire land in North Carolina despite the service area definition. The decision is being fought by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, whose leaders claim the areas as their ancestral territory. The tribe operates two gaming facilities in the western part of North Carolina. The board of commissioners in Buncombe County, located far to the west of Kings Mountain, also opposes the new development. The Catawba Nation, whose headquarters are located across the border in South Carolina, hopes to open the casino in the summer of 2021. A groundbreaking took place on July 22. The first phase of the Catawba Two Kings Casino Resort will include 1,300 electronic gaming machines, table games and restaurants, the tribe said in the news release. Casino gets its official name (The Shelby Star August 28, 2020)SC indian nation casino opposed by Buncombe; Cherokee say $750M at stake (The Asheville Citizen-Times August 19, 2020)
Leaders break ground on new casino in Kings Mountain (WBTV July 22, 2020)
• Determining Eligibility for Land-into-Trust in Section 19 of the Indian Reorganization Act
• Procedure for Determining Eligibility for Land-Into-Trust under the First Definition of 'lndian' in Section l9 of the Indian Reorganization Act
• Determining Eligibility for Land-Into-Trust under the First Definition of 'lndian' in Section 19 of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 [PDF 14.6MB]
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Republican U.S. Senator blasts Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians for 'bullying' (June 19, 2019)
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Catawba Nation asks Congress to fulfill promise in land claim settlement (May 3, 2019)
Catawba Nation homelands bill slated for first hearing on Capitol Hill (April 22, 2019)
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Catawba Indians Casino Plans
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Pastors continue to rally opposition to Catawba Nation casino (02/05)
Catawba Nation waits for BIA decision on off-reservation casino (01/28)
Catawba Nation casino opponents meet with BIA officials in DC (12/17) Ron Fritz@ronfritzDecember 14th, 2020 - 04:17pm@ronfritz
A Catawba Indian Nation casino planned for North Carolina had a ground-breaking ceremony in mid-July. It now has a tentative date for the first phase of the project.
The tribe, which is based in South Carolina, plans to build and open an “introductory facility” by next fall, according to the Charlotte Observer. Called the “Two Kings Casino Resort in Kings Mountain,” it’s a roughly $300 million, 60,000-square-foot facility located about 35 milies west of Charlotte in Cleveland County.
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Tribal Administrator Elizabeth Harris said the facility will have at least 1,300 slot machines, according to the story in The Observer.
The casino is being contested by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, which owns two casinos in western North Carolina and recently announced it has agreed to an amended compact with Gov. Roy Cooper to allow sports betting to move forward at its Harrah’s Cherokee casinos.
Although the North Carolina sports betting bill was passed in July 2019 by the General Assembly and signed into law by Cooper later that month, the process was delayed for more than a year while an amendment to the gaming compact was worked out between the state and the tribe. The coronavirus pandemic has been cited as one reason for the delay, according to a published report.
The law made in-person wagering legal at the Eastern Band of Cherokee casinos in Cherokee and Murphy. The compact still needs signatures from the governor, secretary of state and attorney general before being sent to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs and a 45-day public comment period needs to be advertised before it can go into effect, according to the Smoky Mountain News.
Kings Mountain Casino Progress
In March, the U.S. Interior department decided to put the Kings Mountain casino land in trust, allowing for the casino to be developed.
In late October, Cooper's administration received a proposal from the Catawbas on how it would run the casino, according to the Associated Press. The draft could become the basis for a gambling compact that lays out the games that would be offered and revenue the state would receive, the report said.
The Observer said Cooper and the tribe have had discussions about a compact.
Record-Breaking Fiscal 2019 for Indian Gaming
The National Indian Gaming Commission reported last week that tribal casinos had record high revenues in the 2019 fiscal year, with gross gaming revenue at an industry-record $34.6 billion. That was an increase of 2.5% over the $33.7 billion recorded in fiscal 2018.
That was possible because casino reporting for the 2019 fiscal year ended before the coronavirus pandemic forced every tribal gaming operation across the nation to temporarily close. The revenue was determined by 522 casinos submitting independently audited financial reports, comprised of 245 federally recognized tribes in 29 states.
Nearly every NIGC region experienced growth with the Oklahoma City region seeing the largest increase of 7.7%.
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sharetweetcopy linkLink copied!WRITTEN BY@ronfritz<p>Ron joined TopUSCasinos.com as assistant managing editor in 2019 after nearly 13 years at The Baltimore Sun, including 12 as sports editor. He previously was sports editor at The News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware, for nearly eight years after serving as a news editor there for four years. After graduating from Bowling Green State University in Ohio in 1988, Ron started his career at the York (Pennsylvania) Daily Record as a copy editor, then assistant sports editor.</p>... Read More<p>Ron joined TopUSCasinos.com as assistant managing editor in 2019 after nearly 13 years at The Baltimore Sun, including 12 as sports editor. He previously was sports editor at The News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware, for nearly eight years after serving as a news editor there for four years. After graduating from Bowling Green State University in Ohio in 1988, Ron started his career at the York (Pennsylvania) Daily Record as a copy editor, then assistant sports editor.</p>... Read MoreARTICLES YOU MAY LIKE
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