Catawba Indians open doors to 1st phase of their $1.25 billion NC casino
Hundreds of drivers lined Kings Mountain Boulevard for Wednesday morning’s opening of the first phase of the Catawba Indians’ $1.25 billion Catawba Two Kings Casino.
“We knew it was going to be busy,” Jasmine Cheek of Charlotte said about why she and her spouse, Subia King, joined the line at 8:40 a.m. for the 10 a.m. opening. “We have to be here. We love gambling.”
The casino is off Interstate 85 exit 5, about 35 miles west of Charlotte.
The first phase, known as the introductory casino, includes 1,350 slot machines, 36 electronic table games, 22 traditional table games, a 68-seat restaurant, an 18-seat bar, sports betting kiosks and a player rewards desk.
The casino replaces one that opened in July 2021 on the same site. The new casino includes 250 more slot machines and eight more table games than the original one.
Two levels of parking in the new complex also are open.
2-million-square-foot casino, 24-story hotel
The overall casino complex is expected to open in spring 2027, Trent Troxel, vice president of the Catawba Nation Gaming Authority said at Wednesday’s opening of the first phase of the complex.
The casino will be about 2 million square feet and include a 24-story, 385-room hotel, 4,300 slot machines, 100 table games and 11 restaurants, including a steakhouse, Italian restaurant, a marketplace with six venues, a café and a grab-and-go outlet.
The complex also will have a players lounge, 11 bars, 2,700 underground parking spaces and 800 ground-level spaces.
Work on the permanent casino resort began after a June 2024 groundbreaking ceremony. On Oct. 27, 2025, the final beam was placed on top of the casino at a topping-off ceremony.
Troxel said he worked in the textile industry for a couple of decades before all the jobs disappeared. Now, the casino is creating new ones, he said.
The project has generated hundreds of construction jobs, and the casino resort will employ about 2,200 local residents and citizens of the Catawba Nation when completed, tribal officials said.
“You want it to be bright”
For gamblers Wednesday, the focus was on the immediate and the chance of jackpots.
Jen Sain, 53, drove from the Lake Wylie area, arriving 10 minutes after the casino opened. “I was able to pull right up,” she said.
In the high-roller room, she won $500 on a $5 spin and was up $680 on $45 in bets, she said. “I just cash the tickets out,” she said.
Later, at a Dragon Link slot machine, she said she enjoyed gambling at the now-closed original casino for a year and a half.
She likes how the first phase of the new casino is bright and inviting, unlike casinos elsewhere she’s visited. “You want it to be exciting,” she said. “You want it to be bright and cheerful.”
Janice Hyman of High Point wouldn’t have missed the big day.
“I always like to see new stuff,” she said while playing at a Mystery of the Talisman Pays slot machine.
She once won “big, big, big, big” at an MGM casino in Maryland, she said.
If she wins a fortune at Catawba Two Kings Casino, she’ll do what she did with that last big win: “I shared it,” she said. “I gave some to everyone. Don’t be stingy with stuff.”
Sometimes, Cheek said, she and her spouse bet small, other times big.
“Either way, we’re going to win,” Cheek said at a Super Hot Flaming Pots slot machine.
