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.

  1. New Casino In Kings Mountain Nc
  2. New Casino In Nc

Catawba Indian Nation to announce plans for new casino in Kings Mountain, N.C. KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. (WBTV) - The Catawba Indian Nation will present, on Friday, plans and renderings of the new.

  • 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.
  • Oct 02, 2020 The casino project faces stiff opposition from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, a tribe that had its own struggles in opening its casinos in North Carolina. The tribe now operates Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort in Cherokee and Harrah’s Cherokee Valley Resort in Murphy.

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.

Casino

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.

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!

Ron Fritz@ronfritzDecember 14th, 2020 - 04:17pm

New Casino In Kings Mountain Nc

@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.

New Casino In Nc

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 More

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