Catawba Two Kings Casino in North Carolina Details Opening Timeline
Posted on: June 19, 2025, 12:07h.
Last updated on: June 18, 2025, 10:20h.
- The Catawba Nation continues construction of its casino resort in North Carolina
- Two Kings Casino Resort is being built in Kings Mountain, NC
- The permanent casino is slated to open in the spring of 2027
The permanent Two Kings Casino Resort continues construction roughly 35 miles west of Charlotte, NC. This week, officials with the development that’s expected to cost somewhere between $700 million and $1 billion detailed when it might open.
The Catawba Nation and Delaware North revealed on Tuesday that the Two Kings Casino Resort is on pace to open in the spring of 2027. The first phase of the destination, referred to as an “introductory casino,” is slated to commence operations next March.
When the introductory gaming space opens with around 1,350 slot machines, 22 live-dealer table games, and sports betting kiosks, the tribe will shutter its temporary casino. When the full casino opens the following year, the facility will expand to offer gamblers more than 4,300 slots, 100 tables, and a sportsbook.
Right now, we have around 490 employees. We’re going to hire 2,000 more employees between now and 2027,” Trent Troxel, vice president of the Catawba Nation Gaming Authority, said during a media tour of the construction site.
Along with the gaming space, the first phase of the resort will open next spring with a restaurant and bar and a Lucky North Rewards desk.
Project Finally Coming to Light
The Catawba Nation has sought economic independence for years through the establishment of a Class III gaming resort. After regaining federal recognition in 1993 and winning a $50 million Indian lands claim settlement from the United States and South Carolina governments, the Catawba sought for many decades to enter into a Class III gaming compact to no avail.
The Catawba’s sovereign lands traverse the Carolinas’ border. With South Carolina maintaining a prohibition on casino gambling, including tribal gaming, the tribe petitioned the North Carolina government for slots and table game privileges through a compact.
North Carolina has for decades allowed the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to operate casinos on its sovereign lands. The state government balked at the Catawba’s gaming pleas until 2021 when Gov. Roy Cooper (D) finally agreed to enter into a revenue-sharing arrangement for the tribe to operate Las Vegas-like slots and tables.
The Catawba partnered with Carolina businessman Wallace Cheves for its Kings Mountain casino. After the National Indian Gaming Commission ruled that the partnership between the tribe and Cheves would have benefited the businessman too greatly, and also raised concerns about his suitability to be involved in a casino after previously paying millions of dollars in civil and criminal fines for operating illegal video poker and electronic bingo machines in several states, Cheves departed the development.
The tribe found a new financier and partner in Delaware North, the New York-based gaming and hospitality conglomerate. Delaware North will manage and operate the permanent resort once complete.
The latest plan for what will become the third permanent tribal casino resort in North Carolina after Harrah’s Cherokee and Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River includes a 24-story, 385-room hotel. The Two Kings Casino Resort will additionally feature 11 restaurants and bars, a 2,700-space underground parking garage, and 800 surface parking spaces.
Catawba Backstory
The Catawba Nation claims to have fought alongside the colonists during the Revolutionary War. The tribe’s name, Catawba, means “people of the river,” in this case, the Catawba River.
Historians say the Catawba were one of many tribes on the East Coast. They agreed to fight alongside the colonists in exchange for protection against rival tribes.
The tribe was decimated by smallpox epidemics, which led to many remaining tribal members joining the Cherokee or Choctaw. The US government terminated the tribe as a sovereign nation in 1959. The tribe was reestablished in 1973 and began the two-decade process of regaining federal recognition.
Last Comment ( 1 )
Cant wait to see the new casino so i dont have to go to danville