North Carolina tribe to add 500 slots to its temporary Two Kings Casino pre-launch venue

The Catawba Two Kings Casino Resort announced Friday, October 1 that the expansion project to add 500 gaming machines to the Catawba Two Kings pre-launch facility in Kings Mountain has begun. 

The initial site work began in September on the expansion, which will be attached to the current facility and once again constructed using prefabricated modular structures. Once the expansion is completed, which is expected to happen by the end of 2021, the temporary casino will feature 1,000 gaming machines. The 24/7 facility that opened in July is the first phase of the planned $273 million Two Kings Casino Resort. 

Two Kings Casino Resort render.

The Catawba Nation and its consultants are planning and developing work on the permanent casino resort project. The timing for construction of that project is also being determined. 

“With the overwhelming success of the Catawba Two Kings Casino’s pre-launch facility since opening, it makes sense to work as quickly as possible to provide additional gaming opportunities for our patrons across the Charlotte region,” said Mike Ulizio, president of the Catawba Nation Gaming Authority in a press release. 

This announcement was followed by the opening of the North Carolina Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ $300 million expansion of the tribe’s Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort on October 2nd, which includes a 19-storey, 725-room hotel tower and a convention center.

Back in March, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians filed an appeal to a federal court to reverse the ruling allowing the Catawba project to move forward.

The Cherokee Indians operate two casinos in the mountains and have previously called the site for the Catawba casino a “land grab”, noting that Catawba Indian Nation is known as a South Carolina tribe.