The Catawba Indian Nation announced it will open a “pre-launch facility” with 500 slots in early July while its $273 million Catawba Two Kings Casino Resort is under construction in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. Tribal Administrator Elizabeth Harris said the precise opening date will depend on the weather in the next few weeks.
Harris said the pre-launch facility is fully staffed with 259 employees who are in training. Casino operator Delaware North held two job fairs in May where 224 people were hired; an additional 35 tribal citizens received training at another Delaware North facility.
Harris said work has been ongoing at the casino site just off Exit 5 off Interstate 85. Phase one of the project is expected to open in 2022 with an additional 1,300 slot machines.
The federal government approved the tribe’s Class III gaming compact with the state of North Carolina in March. The compact includes a revenue-sharing agreement with the state. In April, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejected an appeal from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to halt the project. The Eastern Band sued the U.S. Department of the Interior over its March 2020 decision to take land in North Carolina into trust for the South Carolina-based Catawbas. The Eastern Band has appealed the decision.
Additionally, the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources recently passed the Catawba Indian Nation Lands Act, which reaffirms the Interior Department’s land-trust decision. Harris said the tribe can open the casino before the bill passes Congress.
The Catawba Indian Nation announced it will open a “pre-launch facility” with 500 slots in early July while its $273 million Catawba Two Kings Casino Resort is under construction in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. Tribal Administrator Elizabeth Harris said the precise opening date will depend on the weather in the next few weeks.
Harris said the pre-launch facility is fully staffed with 259 employees who are in training. Casino operator Delaware North held two job fairs in May where 224 people were hired; an additional 35 tribal citizens received training at another Delaware North facility.
Harris said work has been ongoing at the casino site just off Exit 5 off Interstate 85. Phase one of the project is expected to open in 2022 with an additional 1,300 slot machines.
The federal government approved the tribe’s Class III gaming compact with the state of North Carolina in March. The compact includes a revenue-sharing agreement with the state. In April, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejected an appeal from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to halt the project. The Eastern Band sued the U.S. Department of the Interior over its March 2020 decision to take land in North Carolina into trust for the South Carolina-based Catawbas. The Eastern Band has appealed the decision.
Additionally, the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources recently passed the Catawba Indian Nation Lands Act, which reaffirms the Interior Department’s land-trust decision. Harris said the tribe can open the casino before the bill passes Congress.
