A new investigation by Policy Watch, a project of the North Carolina Justice Center, found Scott Neisler, mayor of Kings Mountain, could financially benefit from the $273 million Catawba Two Kings Resort Casino that will be built in the area by the South Carolina-based the Catawba Nation. Neisler’s family company owns 865 acres of mostly undeveloped land valued at millions of dollars on five parcels located within a mile of the casino site. According to Policy Watch research, the casino will not boost values for average homeowners in Cleveland County.
Last month Neisler testified at a virtual U.S. House of Representatives committee hearing that the casino will have a major economic impact on the county, where 19 percent of residents live below the federal poverty level. He said, “Obviously those kind of projects don’t come around but once in a millennium for our area, you know?”
At the hearing, North Carolina Rep. Mark Walker asked Neisler about potential conflicts of interest regarding his family business and his support of the casino project. Neisler did not disclose his family’s land holdings near the casino site, just off I-85 toward Kings Mountain. Much of the land has no road access and there are no nearby retail or entertainment areas. However, if the casino opens and is successful, the land could become much more valuable.
Neisler told Policy Watch he does not consider the family’s holdings to be a conflict of interest. He said the family has not discussed selling the land to the Catawba tribe for the casino or any related development in the area, which could take five to seven years to reach the land his family owns. He said his land could rise in value but so could other Cleveland County properties. “My house even in town is going to go up in price, so that’s a conflict of interest. But that’s kind of looking in futuristic terms and saying, ‘Hey, something two miles down the road is going to be worth a whole lot because this is coming in.’ Well, it could and it couldn’t. I don’t know,” he said.
In a 2013 study of communities with casinos, the National Association of Realtors concluded “the impact on home values appears to be unambiguously negative.” The study said compared to casinos in urban areas, casinos in rural areas have a more positive effect on income and less of a negative impact on home prices—but that mainly applies to destination casinos that are the only entertainment offering in a large area, according to the report. It also indicated the more casinos in a region, the less positive the impact. The Catawba resort would be the third Indian casino in western North Carolina; the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians owns two Harrah’s casinos in Cherokee and Murphy.
Neisler noted a London & Associates economic impact study estimated the Catawba casino could create 2,600 direct new jobs and 1,000 indirect. The study also projected $5.1 million a year in local sales, residential and property taxes, with more than $100 million in annual labor income. The National Association of Realtors study urges caution regarding jobs. It states, “Casinos generate jobs, but many of the jobs created by the introduction of a casino are reported to be minimal wage/low paying opportunities, with a few experienced gaming professionals filling the management positions.”
The report also said, “Major social costs are frequently mentioned as associated with casinos—e.g., increased bankruptcies, crime, traffic and congestion, among others. These costs are frequently excluded from cost/benefit evaluations due to measurement problems. The inclusion of the social costs along with possibly other negative externalities reduces the net level of economic benefits from a casino or may even turn them negative.”
In response, Neisler said the city and the Catawba Nation will work to minimize any negative impacts, but he maintains the economic opportunities for Kings Mountain are worth any potential risks. “All available evidence points toward a substantial improvement for our city’s well-being on almost all measurable dimensions,” Neisler said.
However, a 2016 study by Agribusiness and Applied Economics faculty at North Dakota State University found casino expansion increased the short-term and long-term income growth rate as well as the 10-year salary job growth rate by less than a percentage point. The study’s co-author, Siew Hoon Lim, said, “Specifically, we compared the effects on real per-capita personal income and job growth rates of the counties with and without casinos. We found that the effects of casinos on economic growth to be positive but relatively small.”
Dr. Alton Beal, president of Ambassador Baptist College in Shelby, leads a grassroots organization that opposes the Catawba casino. Last year he helped gather more than 1,200 signatures against the project. He said, “We were able to get that many signatures in a week and a half with not much effort. So obviously, not everyone here is sold.” But Cleveland County commissioners and the Kings Mountain City Council didn’t take any action. “They’re so caught up in the economic boon that’s been sold to them. They’re not thinking about anything else. They’re not thinking about gambling addiction, bankruptcy, domestic abuse, family instability,” Beal said. He added, “I believe, as the Bible says, that the love of money is the root of all evil. And this is an industry that is built on the love of money. I don’t doubt our leaders’ Christianity. But I do doubt their discernment.”
