The Catawba Indian Nation recently announced it will open a second high-stakes bingo hall in Rock Hill, South Carolina by early March. The state Department of Revenue has given the Catawbas a special license to operate the facility, with prizes capped at 0,000. The first was the 3,000-seat 500 Nations, which the tribe operated from 1997 to 2006, and closed due to competition from the South Carolina Education Lottery.
South Carolina’s only federally recognized tribe, the Catawbas may operate up to two bingo halls under its 1993 settlement agreement with the state.
The tribe filed a lawsuit against South Carolina in 2011 to build a casino on its 700-acre reservation in York County. The Catawbas claim they have the right to operate a casino on reservation land, and that the state would receive about $110 million annually in gaming fees and taxes from the facility.
Meanwhile, the Catawbas also have applied to the Interior Department to take into trust a 16-acre parcel near King’s Mountain in Cleveland County, North Carolina, about 30 miles west of Charlotte and 30 miles northwest of its Rock Hill reservation. The tribe wants to build a destination resort casino with 220,000 square feet of gaming space and 750 guest rooms. The project would create 4,000 jobs in an area with a 10 percent unemployment rate.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, which owns and operates Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort, located 130 miles away from the proposed Catawba casino, opposes the Catawba casino. Said Cherokee Chief Michel Hicks, “We are greatly concerned that this development will negatively impact job growth and revenue at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and for the western region of North Carolina.”
Also 102 out of 120 members of the North Carolina legislature signed a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell asking her to block the Catawbas’ application. Republican State Senator Jim Davis, who signed the letter, said, “I just think that allowing one opens the door to everybody that wants to open a casino in North Carolina to come. The Catawba Indians are based in South Carolina. Are we then going to allow the Iroquois to come in? I just think that it’s a federal issue.”
Governor Pat McCrory said the casino would open a loophole for other tribes with ancestral connections to North Carolina to come to the state and open gambling operations. “I’ve seen no argument to justify it whatsoever,” McCrory said.
In 2012, the Eastern Band of Cherokee made campaign contributions to 86 current members of the North Carolina House and Senate, and gave $4,000 to McCrory’s campaign.
However, Republican state Rep. Thom Goolsby said, “It is not the role of the General Assembly to pick winners and losers.” He noted, either allow it for all federally-recognized tribes in the state, or shut down the casino in Cherokee. “The state cannot have it both ways,” he said.
