Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians continues casino expansion work

Wednesday, August 8, 2018  

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians continues to expand its flagship gaming facility in North Carolina.

The Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort will be growing with the addition of a new parking area. The tribal council voted August 2 to add the 4.7-acre site to the facility, The Smoky Mountain News reported.

“We’re already parking people off the property and employees, it’s tough on an employee to have to be there 30 minutes early to catch a bus to get back to work,” said Rich Sneed, the chairman of the tribe's gaming enterprise, the paper reported.

The tribe broke ground on a $200 million expansion of the facility on June 26. The project will features 83,000 square-feet of conference space, a 17-story hotel tower with 725 rooms and new retail and dining outlets.

With the ground exposed from a months-long archaeological excavation along with Tribal leaders, we officially broke ground this morning on our newest expansion. The $250 million project will add 83,000 square feet of meeting space, over 700 hotel rooms, and much more!! pic.twitter.com/c03caPg9jJ

— Harrah's Cherokee (@HarrahsCherokee) June 26, 2018

“This is an industry that literally generates hundreds of billions of dollars a year, and we have something so unique, here in Cherokee, to offer," Chief Richard Sneed said at the groundbreaking, The Cherokee One Feather reported. "We have our culture. We have our story."

Work on the expansion is expected to take 30 months, the paper reported. When complete, the casino will offer nearly 1,900 rooms in four hotel towers.

The tribe also operates the Harrah's Cherokee Valley River Casino and Hotel on another portion of the reservation. The facility just saw the addition of UltraStar Multi-tainment Center, an entertainment complex.

Read More on the Story:
Tribe to expand casino parking (The Smoky Mountain News August 8, 2018)
UltraStar dedicates the new Multi-tainment Center in Murphy (The Cherokee One Feather July 23, 2018)
Casino expansion brings jobs, fun (The Cherokee Scout July 18, 2018)
Harrah's Cherokee expanding (The Mountaineer June 27, 2018)
Tribal, gaming officials break ground on new Convention Center (The Cherokee One Feather June 26, 2018)
Harrah's Cherokee Resort breaks ground on convention center (WLOS June 26, 2018)

Eastern Cherokees begin work on $200 million casino expansion project (June 18, 2018)