Cherokee Casino Resort celebrating grand opening

Clayton Bellamy

Friday, Dec. 10, 2004 | 9:24 a.m.

CATOOSA, Okla. -- An Elvis impersonator in a red, frilly jumpsuit walks out of the Wild Potato Buffet. A Frank Sinatra sound-alike in a pinstripe suit and a fedora sings about Route 66.

The entertainment, the slot machines and the neon sign three stories tall glittering to every passing car on I-44 give visitors to the Cherokee Casino Resort here a Las Vegas feeling.

But the Cherokee art that lines the walls and highlights the decor and the absence of craps, roulette and house-backed card games remind them that they haven't left Oklahoma.

The Cherokee Casino Resort is celebrating its grand opening this week, after an $80 million expansion that first opened piece by piece in September.

Cherokee Nation Enterprises, which owns and operates the facility, doubled the gambling capacity of the tribe's old adjacent casino, added a 150-room hotel and conference center and built a golf course.

The resort employs 877 workers.

"It's awesome," CNE chief executive David Stewart said Wednesday. "A record night last night, not a parking spot available."

CNE embarked on its expansion in anticipation that Indian gaming would continue to grow in Oklahoma. It also bought Will Rogers Downs in nearby Claremore last spring.

Voters in November approved a state question that will allow electronic gambling games at horse racing tracks and more attractive games at Indian casinos.

"It means more creative pay tables, faster play and a little bit more entertainment for the customer," Stewart said.

The newly allowed games will insert more skill into the electronic bingo games at tribal casinos by allowing players to choose when the wheels stop, instead of them stopping automatically, Stewart said.

With the passage of State Question 712, CNE has begun its renovation of Will Rogers Downs to get the long-idle track ready for the gaming machines, he said. It should open by April with live racing near the end of 2005, he said.

At the casino Wednesday afternoon, a large crowd filled only about half the more than 2,000 electronic games, vying for $1,000 cash giveaways every hour and nightly drawings for new cars.

The casino has three bars, a piano bar off the hotel lobby, a country and western bar and "Twisters," just off the gambling floor, featuring its signature "F5" drink. All have live music.

The hotel is doing a brisk business with its four conference rooms booked through the middle of next year with wedding receptions, reunions and corporate functions, said CNE spokeswoman Gina Olaya.