Deal of the Week: Eastern Cherokees bet on big casino expansion

Wednesday, August 25, 2010  

"Lady Antebellum and Hank Williams Jr. will be the headliners on Labor Day weekend when Harrah's Cherokee Casino & Hotel in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina opens a 3,000-seat event center.

The owners, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, will have good reason to join in the singing.

Casino expansions are unusual events these days in the world of Indian gambling. Like gambling parlors throughout the country, they have been hurt by shrinking casino revenue.

Investors have been particularly spooked by Indian gambling in the wake of several defaults by a number of casinos, including Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Conn., which is owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.

Not surprisingly, in this climate it has been difficult for Indian tribes to raise money to launch new casinos or expand existing ones. But the Cherokee in North Carolina has managed to sidestep these concerns.

Opened in 1997, the casino is moving ahead with a $633 million project that is adding some Las Vegas-style glitz along with doubling the size of its gambling space. Before the expansion, the casino, which is owned by the Cherokees and operated by Harrah's Entertainment Inc., had 575 hotel rooms and some 3,200 games largely comprised of video slots, said John Houser, chairman of the Tribal Casino Gaming Enterprise, a board appointed by the tribe to oversee the casino. The new casino will have about 4,500 games and a wider variety, including video poker.

By the end of this year, a third hotel tower is expected to be completed by Turner Construction Co. that will roughly double the number of hotel rooms to just over 1,000. Meanwhile, construction also began this month on a rotunda that will include a more dramatic casino entrance, with interior design elements that include 85-foot-tall sculptured trees and a waterfall. Also on tap: an 18,000-square-foot spa and new restaurants, including a Ruth's Chris Steak House. When the complex is finished in 2012, the total amount of gambling space will have been doubled to about 160,000 square feet, Mr. Houser said."

Get the Story:
Cherokee Casino Bets on More Glitz (The Wall Street Journal 8/25)