The Cherokee Nation’s million, 39,000 square foot casino under construction in Grove, Oklahoma will open in late December or early January with 400 electronic games, table games and a private high-limit poker room, plus a restaurant, bar, live music venue and a dance floor. It’s expected to attract about 400,000 visitors annually and create 175 new jobs, said Mark Fulton, chief operating officer at Cherokee Nation Entertainment.
Jonathan Swain, an official with the $70.2 million, state-owned Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel, set to open in nearby Pittsburg, Kansas shortly after the tribe’s property opens, is not concerned. “We would expect little to no competition to our business model from another casino in Grove,” he said. Kansas Crossing will feature 625 slot machines and 16 gaming tables, and attract about 500,000 visitors a year.
In addition, Sean Harrison, a spokesman for Downstream Casino Resort across the state line in Oklahoma, said the new Cherokee casino “will dilute the market a little more. We don’t anticipate it affecting us much, if at all.” Opened in 2008, Downstream offers 2,000 slots, 36 table games and 14 poker tables, and employs 1,100 people. It attracts about 1.2 million visitors a year.
According to Casino City’s Indian Gaming Industry Report, Native American casino revenue in Oklahoma grew by 4.8 percent to about $4 billion in 2014–more than triple the growth rate for nationwide Indian gambling excluding Oklahoma.
Cherokee Nation Entertainment operates Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa and eight Cherokee casinos. In February 2015, the Cherokee Nation opened a new casino in South Coffeyville and renovated the Tulsa casino lobby of in mid-2015.
