Amid an ongoing legal battle against the Eastern Band of Cherokees

North Carolina: Catawba casino project to break ground Wednesday

“The project will have a huge impact on the Cleveland County region bringing much needed jobs as well as on the future of the Catawba Nation," Catawba Chief Bill Harris said Friday.
2020-07-20
Reading time 2 min
Catawba Nation confirmed a groundbreaking ceremony for the nearly $300 million casino near Charlotte in Kings Mountain, slated to open in late spring or early summer of next year. In March, the U.S. Interior department put the land in trust, a designation that gives it the right to develop a casino. This month the Cherokees filed an amended claim citing political pressure from the project’s developer.

The Catawba Indians plan to break ground Wednesday on a nearly $300 million casino 35 miles from Charlotte in Kings Mountain, North Carolina.

A tribe official on Friday confirmed the plans that would bring Vegas-style gambling to the Charlotte area, Charlotte Observer reports. The Catawbas plan to open the casino in late spring or early summer of next year.

“The Catawba Nation is excited to get this long awaited project moving forward,” Catawba Chief Bill Harris said Friday. “The project will have a huge impact on the Cleveland County region bringing much needed jobs as well as on the future of the Catawba Nation.”

The groundbreaking comes despite a lawsuit against the project by the Eastern Band of Cherokees, who operate their own casinos in western North Carolina. Based in South Carolina, where gambling is prohibited, the Catawbas have looked across the border for at least seven years. The tribe finally won federal approval in March to acquire 16 acres near Interstate 85 in Cleveland County. The U.S. Interior department put the land in trust, a designation that gives it the right to develop a casino. At the time Harris called it “a righting of a wrong.”

The Cherokees, who have operated their own North Carolina casinos since 1997, have called the Catawbas’ efforts “a modern-day land grab.” The Catawbas say they have a right to the land based on a provision of a 1993 agreement that gave them federal recognition. The agreement also gave them a “service area” in six N.C. counties, including Mecklenburg and Cleveland. Tribe members who live in those counties are eligible for the same federal benefits and services as those living on the reservation. That’s the basis for their claim to the N.C. land.

This spring, when the federal government put the land in trust, the Cherokees sued. A federal judge rejected their request for a preliminary injunction, saying the Cherokees had not suffered “irreparable harm” by the government’s approval of the Catawba casino. In a memo explaining his order, Judge James Boasberg cited the Catawbas’ “significant economic challenges.”

This month the Cherokees filed an amended claim, arguing that political pressure from the project’s developer prompted the government to pave the way for the casino and bypass Congress in the process. In a statement, Cherokee Chief Richard Sneed called the scheduled groundbreaking “a slap in the face to Judge James Boasberg.”

“It’s investors’ money to flush as they see fit,” Sneed said. “The facts are clear that the DOI violated federal law in their rushed, politicized decision and we are confident that the court will ultimately put an end to Wallace Cheves’ shady scheme to force this casino on North Carolina.”

Leave your comment
Subscribe to our newsletter
Enter your email to receive the latest news
By entering your email address, you agree to Yogonet's Condiciones de uso and Privacy Policies. You understand Yogonet may use your address to send updates and marketing emails. Use the Unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.
Unsubscribe
EVENTS CALENDAR