Opinion

Opinion: Eastern Cherokee casino compact seems like a bad bet

Monday, June 4, 2012

"North Carolina's proposed new compact to allow table games with live dealers at casinos in Cherokee may violate the state constitution, Jeanette Doran of the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law writes in a recent memo.

The potentially offending provision grants the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians exclusive rights to operate live table games west of Interstate 26.

My reaction to the exclusivity clause was twofold.

First: West of I-26? Are you kidding? That's really hemming the Cherokees in. It means, theoretically, that someone else someday could put a casino in Asheville, most of which is east of I-26. And that would be a real kick in the knee to the Cherokees.

Second: So, who might be allowed to operate other casinos to the east of I-26? Clearly, this seems to leave a door open for another Indian tribe -- perhaps the Lumbees, if they could ever gain official federal recognition."

Get the Story:
Doug Clark: The casino deal might be a bad bet (The Greensboro News Record