UPDATE: Studies out of Charlotte, scooped from Catawba Nation social media account feedback, recommended that the tribe would construct a thoroughbred racetrack within the coming years, adjoining to their Two Kings On line casino Resort. The Catawba Nation has since clarified that it has no intention of investing in a horse racetrack of any form. On line casino.org apologizes for the reporting error.
The Catawba Nation’s everlasting Two Kings On line casino Resort hasn’t but opened, however feedback on social media recommended that the tribe was already seeking to the longer term.
A rendering of the forthcoming Catawba Nation Two Kings On line casino Resort in Kings Mountain, NC. The North Carolina tribal on line casino resort vacation spot was wrongly rumored to be mulling a thoroughbred horse racetrack within the coming years. (Picture: Catawba Nation)
The primary part of the everlasting Two Kings On line casino Resort, described as an “introductory” on line casino, contains an 80K-square-foot facility with 1,350 slot machines, 22 stay seller desk video games, and sports activities betting kiosks. A restaurant and bar, a rewards desk, and 800 floor parking tons are included. The preliminary on line casino will substitute modular trailers which have housed the momentary Two Kings On line casino, which has operated since July 2021.
Earlier than 2028, the federally acknowledged tribe plans to finish the whole thing of the resort vacation spot in North Carolina’s Kings Mountain. The property is positioned about 35 miles west of Charlotte off Interstate 85 at Exit 5.
The finished resort will characteristic a sprawling on line casino with 4,300 slots, 100 tables, a sportsbook, and a 24-story, 385-key resort. Eleven eating places and bars and an underground parking storage with 2,700 areas are additionally deliberate.
A current dialogue on the tribe’s social media by commentators recommended {that a} $120 million thoroughbred horse racetrack was additionally being thought of. These rumblings turned out to be inaccurate.
North Carolina Horse Racing
North Carolina legalized parimutuel wagering by way of the state’s sports activities betting invoice in 2023. Nevertheless, whereas sports activities betting debuted the next yr, parimutuel wagering on each stay and simulcast horse racing has remained on maintain.
The unique parimutuel betting regulation didn’t entice any superior deposit wagering (ADW) companies to chunk on the $1 million licensing price and 1% tax on all wagers. The invoice moreover disqualified slot-like historic horse racing (HHR) machines as a permitted type of parimutuel betting.
There’s optimism among the many North Carolina Basic Meeting {that a} revised measure will make the parimutuel wagering market extra engaging to operators.
Within the meantime, the Catawba Nation might use its federal gaming privileges to provoke parimutuel wagering. The Nationwide Indian Gaming Fee has dominated that parimutuel wagering is a type of Class III gaming, the identical classification as Las Vegas-like slot machines and stay seller desk video games. The Catawba’s Class III gaming compact with the State of North Carolina permits it to function slots, tables, and sports activities betting on its sovereign land.
Parimutuel wagering stays prohibited in Georgia and South Carolina. And presently, it seems the Catawbas, nor the opposite Class III gaming tribe in North Carolina, the Japanese Band of Cherokee Indians, have any plans of venturing into horse racing.
