In Murphy, North Carolina, ground recently was broken for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino expansion.
Principal Chief Richard Sneed told the crowd, “The project that we stand poised to break ground on today is a message to our ancestors, that we are continuing the good work that they began so long ago, and was made possible by their sacrifice. It is a message to our people today that our economic development as a tribal nation is ever evolving. We have risen from the ashes of oppression and poverty to become the economic driver of the entire region of western North Carolina. We have always been and always will be Ani-Yun-Wiya, the Principal People.”
Expected to be complete in early 2024, the $275 million expansion will add 25,000 square feet to the gaming floor and feature 400 new slots, 12 new table games, a World Series of Poker room and a 22-seat casino bar. A new hotel tower will double the existing hotel by adding 296 rooms, plus an indoor pool and fitness center. A sky bridge will connect the 1,700-vehicle parking garage to the hotel. A 12,000-square-foot rooftop restaurant partnering with a celebrity chef will include a 25-seat bar and wine cellar.
The expansion also will offer a 96,000-square-foot spa and salon with six treatment tables, a sauna, steam room, plunge pools and relaxation lounge. A new retail shop will open along the hotel corridor and an expanded 30-seat motorcoach lobby will serve bus patrons.
General Manager Lumpy Lambert said the project will be the first major expansion at the 7-year-old property, which was built for $110 million. In 2017 a $13 million, 38,000-square-foot expansion included a bowling center, restaurant and the current sports betting lounge.
Lambert said the project is “continuing to be that horsepower for this region.” He said the expansion will create 2,500 construction jobs and 100 new permanent jobs, added to the current 1,000 employees. “The employment factor alone of the casino has been huge for the area,” Cherokee County Manager Randy Wiggins noted.
The Eastern Band’s Harrah’s Cherokee casino resort held the monopoly on the regional gaming market for 20 years. But it has new competition from the Catawba Two Kings Casino in Kings Mountain and the recently opened Hard Rock Casino and Hotel in Bristol, Virginia.
Harrah’s Cherokee Regional Senior Vice President and General Manager Brooks Robinson said, “We are very aware that there’s competition on the horizon for us. We have a couple of properties that we’re watching very close outside of Charlotte and also outside of Bristol. But I’m just very proud of what our teams have done to help us prepare for that.”
Besides the tribe’s cash-cow casinos in Murphy and Cherokee, in recent years officials have aggressively pursued other revenue streams, including $250 million to purchase casino operations at Caesars Southern Indiana; a 30 percent stake in a $54.5 million hotel project in Pigeon Forge; a 49.5 percent stake for EBCI Holdings LLC in a $650 million casino in Danville, Virginia; $39 million for a new hotel at the Sequoyah National Golf Club; and $125 million for business arm Kituwah LLC.
