Cherokee lures crowds and new development since casino’s arrival

Tuesday, July 11, 2000 | 9:55 a.m.

The $93 million Harrah's Cherokee Casino has become the state's most popular private attraction with 3.2 million visitors last year.

Money left by the stream of gamblers has triggered a public works bonanza for the tribe, which owns the casino and pays Harrah's Entertainment to run it. New hotels, restaurants and other businesses also have flocked to town.

Most Cherokee residents seem thankful the casino has reversed their fortunes as it changes the local economy.

"For so long, this tribe has been economically depressed and deprived," said Carroll Crowe, vice chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee. "We've been way behind. We're just starting to catch up a little bit."

A few blocks west of the casino, tourists still stroll a collection of weathered wooden shops with huge tepees on their roofs. The stores sell moccasins, spears and anything else that screams "Indian."

The casino displays no arrowheads, no pictures of Indian chiefs or anything else that refers to its Native American surroundings. Its gaming machines beep and buzz as fake lightning bolts crackle above flashing white, pink and yellow lights.

The nearly 2,500 machines are mostly variations on slot machines and video poker and blackjack. They are nearly always packed along with the 2,000-space parking lot outside. So is the auditorium when concerts, boxing and other events are scheduled.

"It's pure entertainment, that's all it is," said visitor Erlindo Guillermo of Forest City. "Plus, it's a lot closer than Atlantic City."

Though the casino doesn't disclose its revenues, most of the tribe's 12,500 members receive about $2,000 twice a year in shared profits.

The reservation had for decades lagged most of the rest of North Carolina in nearly every statistic indicating economic progress.

Cherokee's $15,956 median household income in 1990 was two-thirds of the state average, according to U.S. Census figures. About a fourth of the adults lived below the poverty line that year.

An employee survey Harrah's conducted last year found that nearly half of the casino's 1,500 employees bought new cars in 1999. Nearly three-fourths of the workers also indicated they had obtained better health care since signing on at the casino. More than 40 percent of the casino's workers live on the reservation.

Meanwhile, the tribal government has hired 34 police officers and five firefighters and bought three garbage trucks since 1997. Before the casino, the tribe employed five police officers.

A former temporary casino building was renovated and turned into a youth center where about 600 children participate in activities such as dance and music classes.

About 25 acres were purchased for a new park, the Tribal Fish and Game Program moved into a new building, the Cherokee County community building and a senior citizens center expanded, and a new library and recreation department are under construction.

Other planned improvements include paving the driveways of every home and providing far more help to build houses for the elderly and handicapped.

"Our people's standard of living has gone way up," said Bob Bradley, owner of One Feather Fly & Tackle in Cherokee. "People have been able to buy washers and dryers and cars. They've put new roofs on their homes. We've been able to buy more Christmas gifts than ever before."

The Cherokees have submitted a request to Gov. Jim Hunt to double the size of the gambling space, which at 60,000 square feet is the size of an average grocery store. It also plans to build Western North Carolina's tallest hotel next year, a 15-story tower featuring shops and 31,000 square feet of convention space.