Casino Coming To Kings Mountain Nc

After years of on-again, off-again efforts, the Catawba Indians plan to break ground Wednesday on a nearly $300 million casino 35 miles from Charlotte in Kings Mountain.

1. KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. (Charlotte Observer) - After years of on-again, off-again efforts, the Catawba Indians plan to break ground Wednesday on a nearly $300 million casino 35 miles from Charlotte.
2. KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. (AP) — The South Carolina-based Catawba Indian Nation has received permission from the federal government to build a casino and resort on land over the border in North Carolina.
3. The Catawba want to build the $273 million Two Kings Casino Resort in Kings Mountain. The first phase of the casino could open by next fall with at least 1,300 slot machines.

If all goes according to plan, a new $300 million casino will open its doors in North Carolina next summer. The Catawba Nation broke ground on the property last month, located in the southern part of the state near Kings Mountain. If the doors open as planned in 2021, gamers won’t see the finished product.

A tribe official on Friday confirmed the plans that would bring Vegas-style gambling to the Charlotte area. The Catawbas plan to open the casino in late spring or early summer of next year.

”The Catawba Nation is excited to get this long awaited project moving forward,” Catawba Chief Bill Harris said Friday. “The project will have a huge impact on the Cleveland County region bringing much needed jobs as well as on the future of the Catawba Nation.”

The groundbreaking comes despite a lawsuit against the project by the Eastern Band of Cherokees, who operate their own casinos in western North Carolina.

Based in South Carolina, where gambling is prohibited, the Catawbas have looked across the border for at least seven years. The tribe finally won federal approval in March to acquire 16 acres near Interstate 85 in Cleveland County. The U.S. Interior department put the land in trust, a designation that gives it the right to develop a casino.

At the time Harris called it “a righting of a wrong.”

The proposed casino has reignited a feud between the Carolinas’ biggest tribes over centuries-old land claims and big money. At stake is a piece of the $32 billion Indian gaming industry.

The Cherokees, who have operated their own N.C. casinos since 1997, have called the Catawbas’ efforts “a modern-day land grab.”

The Catawbas say they have a right to the land based on a provision of a 1993 agreement that gave them federal recognition. The agreement also gave them a “service area” in six N.C. counties, including Mecklenburg and Cleveland. Tribe members who live in those counties are eligible for the same federal benefits and services as those living on the reservation. That’s the basis for their claim to the N.C. land.

This spring, when the federal government put the land in trust, the Cherokees sued.

A federal judge rejected their request for a preliminary injunction, saying the Cherokees had not suffered “irreparable harm” by the government’s approval of the Catawba casino. In a memo explaining his order, Judge James Boasberg cited the Catawbas’ “significant economic challenges.”

“Its unemployment rate, for example, hovers around 13.8%,” he wrote, “more than three times the corresponding rates in North and South Carolina. . . . (I)ts median household income — roughly $30,000 — is about 30% below the equivalent figures for the Carolinas. Given that it lacks a sustainable revenue stream, the Nation cannot adequately provide financial assistance to its members.”

He said the casino would generate $72 million in income in its first year and $150 million after five years.

This month the Cherokees filed an amended claim, arguing that political pressure from the project’s developer prompted the government to pave the way for the casino and bypass Congress in the process.

In a statement, Cherokee Chief Richard Sneed called the scheduled groundbreaking “a slap in the face to Judge James Boasberg.”

“It’s investors’ money to flush as they see fit,” Sneed said. “The facts are clear that the DOI violated federal law in their rushed, politicized decision and we are confident that the court will ultimately put an end to Wallace Cheves’ shady scheme to force this casino on North Carolina.”

Over the past 18 months, developer Wallace Cheves has given nearly $500,000 to President Trump, the Republican Party, U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis and Lindsey Graham and other GOP lawmakers, according to the Federal Election Commission.

The Eastern Band also has been a big donor. Since 2019 it has given $213,000 to national party groups, equally divided between Democrats and Republicans.

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Casino Kings Mountain Nc Location

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Casino Coming To Kings Mountain Nc

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If all goes according to plan, a new $300 million casino will open its doors in North Carolina next summer.

The Catawba Nation broke ground on the property last month, located in the southern part of the state near Kings Mountain. If the doors open as planned in 2021, gamers won’t see the finished product. Instead, the tribe plans to set up a “temporary” casino of sorts. Then over the next 18 months, the remaining pieces will be assembled, including other parts of the casino, retail shops, and multiple restaurants. When construction is finished, the casino will cover 220,000 square feet with 3,000 slot machines and multiple table games, along with two hotels offering 750 rooms.

The U.S. Dept. of the Interior can put land into trust for a tribe under the condition it’s an area they originally called home before being relocated in the 1800s. That’s what happened this past March when the department announced they had approved the Catawba casino request. Land was put into trust and then turned over to the tribe.

The casino doesn’t have much in the way of competition. The closest gaming operation belongs to the Cherokee Nation in northwest North Carolina. That’s nearly three hours away from Kings Mountain. On the other side, there’s only one casino in South Carolina and it’s nowhere close. The Big M is in Little River, nearly four hours away from the Catawba Nation’s site. So basically, if someone in central or southern North Carolina wants to play, the Catawba casino will be their closest option. Local officials echoed that in a statement sent out to media.

“With this project, we will become the premier destination between Atlanta and Washington D.C. for entertainment,” said Kings Mountain Mayor Scott Neisler.

A Look At The Catawba Numbers

As we mentioned, the first look gamblers will have at the casino will be a temporary version. What that means is the core casino will be up and running by July 2021, with 1,300 slot machines. There will also be food and drink options, but the main restaurants won’t be open yet. Casino officials also say there will be some “entertainment options,” but it’s unclear what exactly that will be. The temporary version is being used as a stopgap. Right now, it’s unclear what COVID-19 restrictions, if any, will be in place by 2021, but Catawba officials at the groundbreaking said the economy will determine how quickly this gets built. As of Aug. 6, Cleveland County reported a total of 1,097 virus cases, with 17 hospitalizations and 18 deaths. The good news is that 905 of those people recovered and were released from isolation.

The concern for local officials is one echoed through most of North Carolina, as the majority of those cases came after July 1. As restrictions lifted, the number of cases climbed. Another concern is the governor’s recent declaration that he may not fully lift restrictions until a COVID-19 vaccine is available. During the groundbreaking, Catawba Nation officials mentioned the construction timeline would depend on “dollars and decisions.” If restrictions remain past this month, it could stall the tribe’s funding for the full project.

Cherokee Tribe Files To Block Construction

Beyond COVID-19, the planned casino also faces a challenge from the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee filed a lawsuit in March against the U.S. Department of the Interior, amending it in July. Both times, the Cherokee argued the King’s Mountain land is actually historically theirs. In all honesty, it’s a bit of a gray area. Before 1850, the Cherokee stretched from Virginia to South Carolina. At the same time, so did the Catawba. They were considered one of the most powerful tribes in the early 1800s. At that point, the tribe stretched from South Carolina to Virginia and West Virginia. A March 2020 report by the Department of the Interior acknowledged that both tribes had been in the area, but said that shouldn’t restrict the Catawba tribe from building a casino there.

“Though the site falls within an area where another tribe may assert aboriginal ties, that fact does not detract the (Catawba) Nation’s ties to the land,” the Interior report stated.

Casino Kings Mountain Nc

A federal judge rejected the Cherokee’s request for an injunction in March, saying they didn’t show where the casino would cause them harm. In July, the group amended their lawsuit, now arguing the Catawbas should have worked with them to protect Cherokee “cultural resources” at the site. The lawsuit does not state what that would mean.

Casino Coming To Kings Mountain Nc

Now the case goes to a hearing, to be scheduled for later this year. Unless the judge reverses the Interior Department’s decision, construction will start and the casino will open on schedule next summer. It’s worth mentioning that in more than 200 years, no judge has reversed a decision gifting land to a tribe.