Eastern Cherokees see tangible benefits from gaming enterprise

Monday, October 5, 2015

The ribbon cutting for the new Cherokee Indian Hospital in Cherokee, North Carolina, takes place October 15, 2015. Photo from Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority / Facebook

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The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina has seen big payoffs since joining the tribal gaming industry 18 years ago.

Gaming revenues represent about half of the tribe's new $557 million budget. The money pays for essential programs and services, including health care and housing.

“Gaming has made so many things possible that just were completely unheard of prior,” Cherokee Indian Hospital CEO Casey Cooper told North Carolina Health News.

Thanks to those revenues, the tribe is holding a ribbon cutting ceremony for a $80 million replacement hospital next week. A $13 million residential treatment facility, recovery-support housing and a recovery and outpatient counseling center were also funded by casino proceeds, North Carolina Health News reported.

A view of the Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort in Cherokee, North Carolina. Photo from Facebook

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Tribal members also share in the good fortune, in the form of per capita payments. Although per caps are not always seen as sustainable, the money has directly improved the lives of children on the reservation, according to a study by professor Elizabeth Jane Costello of the Duke University of Medicine.

"Four years before the supplement, children in these families had high levels of anxiety, depression, and conduct problems; four years after the supplement began, levels were no higher than those of children who were never poor," Costello wrote in testimony to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in February 2014.

The tribe operates the Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort in Cherokee and the new Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino and Hotel in Murphy.

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