Catawba Indians are expanding their North Carolina gambling site. Here’s what we know.
The Catawba Indians are expanding their North Carolina gambling site due to “overwhelming success” since opening July 1, tribal leaders said Friday.
Work has begun to add 500 gaming machines to the Two Kings Casino gaming facility in Kings Mountain, according to a tribal news release.
The casino is 35 miles west of Charlotte, at Interstate 85 Exit 5.
Site work for the expansion began in September, according to the tribe.
The new machines will be in the same type of prefabricated modular structures as the existing facility and will be attached to the current casino.
The tribe, based in Rock Hill, anticipates completing the addition by year’s end. The casino will then have 1,000 gaming machines.
The tribe wants to finish the expansion “as quickly as possible” because the casino has done so well, Mike Ulizio, president of the Catawba Nation Gaming Authority, said in a statement.
The tribe released no attendance or revenue figures with Friday’s announcement, and hasn’t since the opening.
In August, the N.C. Department of Revenue refused a request by The Charlotte Observer for the state’s first-month tax revenues from the casino, saying such information is private by state statute.
The Catawba Nation and its consultants, meanwhile, “are simultaneously continuing planning” of the tribe’s larger, permanent Two Kings Casino Resort on the same property as the gaming facility that opened in July, according to Friday’s news release.
No construction timetable for the larger casino has been determined, according to the news release.
The 24/7 facility that opened in July is the first phase of the planned $273 million Two Kings Casino Resort. Work on a larger “temporary” casino building nearby is scheduled to begin by year’s end and take about a year to finish, the Observer previously reported..
Updates on the expansion construction will be posted to the Two Kings Casino Facebook page, tribal leaders said.
This story was originally published October 1, 2021 at 2:11 PM with the headline "Catawba Indians are expanding their North Carolina gambling site. Here’s what we know.."