Work still has not begun on the $273 million Catawba Indian Nation’s Two Kings Casino in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, which was supposed to start by the end of 2021.
Observers said that’s due to an investigation by the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC), which has concerns about who will control the casino and profit from it. Catawba Chief Bill Harris said the investigation was a “standard review.” He stated, “The Catawba Nation continues to work closely with the National Indian Gaming Commission on its review of our casino resort project and necessary agreements, and we are working to follow its recommendations as required.”
In March, Harris received a letter from NIGC Compliance Division Chairman Tom Cunningham saying that a lease agreement between the tribe and its development company, Kings Mountain Sky Boat Partners LLC, violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
Sky Boat is owned by Wallace Cheves, a politically connected casino developer. The lease, which was not approved by the commission, granted the company “management authority” over the casino operation. The letter stated such violations “may result in the issuance of a notice of violation, a civil fine assessment and/or an order of temporary closure to the Nation and Sky Boat as the manager of the tribe’s gaming.”
The investigation is expected to wrap up by the end of the year, a NIGC official said. However, the question of whether the Catawba Nation would hold adequate ownership of gaming operations at Two Kings is far from being resolved. Cleveland County businessman and casino investor Doug Brown said the NIGC warned against too much involvement from non-native people. As a result, Brown said he divested his share in the casino last year. “I don’t know if they’re going to be able to build the casino,” he stated.
The NIGC first raised concerns about the tribe’s contracts with Sky Boat Partners and other companies involved in the casino in July 2021. In a letter, Cunningham wrote, “Moving forward, please be aware that operating under these agreements puts the Nation and related parties at risk of violating IGRA, NIGC’s regulations and the Nation’s gaming ordinance.”
As a result, the Catawba ended or amended certain contracts. However, a March 7 letter from the tribe to the NIGC stated, “With regard to the agreement between the Catawba Nation and Kings Mountain Sky Boat Partners, we actively proposed a number of pathways to resolve NIGC’s objections and are continuing to revise the agreement in response to NIGC. We are hopeful this can be resolved in the coming weeks.”
Cunningham responded, “It is the Compliance Division’s recommendation to the NIGC Chairman that the contract is void and the exercise of any management activity under it is a substantial violation of IGRA.” Harris said that was the most recent official correspondence he has received.
A source said the NIGC is investigating two main issues. First, if the tribe has retained sole proprietary interest in the casino, and second, whether it sought approval of the casino-related management contracts—both are required under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
The South Carolina-based Catawba intended to build a casino in North Carolina since most gambling is banned in the tribe’s home state. After years of political maneuvering and pushback from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, operators of two Harrah’s Cherokee casinos, in March 2020 the Department of the Interior granted the Catawba permission to build a casino on 17 acres in Cleveland County, which the tribe claimed as ancestral land. The Interior Department earlier had rejected a Catawba casino.
In January 2021, the tribe and North Carolina reached a revenue-sharing agreement. In December 2021, Congress passed a law allowing the Catawba to proceed, depending on the outcome of the NIGC investigation.
The tribe opened and currently operates a temporary Catawba Two Kings casino in a modular building, featuring slots, electronic table games and a sportsbook, located off Exit 5 of Interstate 85, about 35 miles west of Charlotte.
