- The retail sportsbook at the temporary Two Kings Casino venue is now open.
- The sportsbook has teller/agent services as well as 30 self-service betting kiosks throughout the entire property.
- Two Kings Casino is located at 538 Kings Mountain Boulevard, Kings Mountain, NC.
The Catawba Nation announced on Tuesday afternoon that the onsite sportsbook inside the temporary Two Kings Casino facility is open.
In a statement, Catawba Nation Gaming Authority vice-president Trent Troxel said:
Sportsbook Open Before the Start of the Football Season
The Catawba Two Kings Casino announced this afternoon that its onsite sportsbook is now open. It confirmed to @CBJnewsroom in June it hoped to do so by the start of football season.https://t.co/tY8c44sxaY
— Collin Huguley (@CBJHuguley) September 6, 2022
Last June, the tribe said that they hope to open the sportsbook before the start of the football season, hoping to cash in on the most heavily bet sports in the United States.
The NFL is set to open its 2022 campaign on Thursday while the NCAA College Football season also began last August 27th and is currently in full swing. Both leagues are expected to run through the rest of the year with the College Football Playoffs culminating the collegiate season in January and Super Bowl LVII in February 2023.
Two Kings’ sportsbook has teller/ agent services with betting voucher redemption. There are also 30 self-service kiosks inside the sportsbook and throughout the facility. It is open 24 hours daily and the betting kiosks can be accessed anytime during the casino’s 24/7 operations.
Temporary Casino Open
In just about 2 hrs. people can begin gambling at the temporary Two Kings Casino in Kings Mountain. The facility will be open 24 hours a day. It offers 500 slot machines until the permanent casino project is built. Press conference starts in just a few mins. Watch on .@WBTV_News pic.twitter.com/iXoDtZCrOd
— Kristi O’Connor (@KristiOConnor_) July 1, 2021
The temporary Catawba Two Kings Casino on Interstate 85 just off Exit 5, opened last July 2021 with 500 gaming machines before expanding to 1,000 machines, including electric table games, last December. Later, it added additional prefabricated modular structures to accommodate the Sportsbook. The 30,000-square-foot interim facility will continue to operate until the permanent casino is up.
The Catawba Nation has yet to break ground on the permanent structure and currently, there is no timetable for that. The permanent casino has a total cost of $273 million and is expected to be a 195,000-square-foot gambling site with a 1,500-room hotel as one of its main amenities. The permanent facility is expected to create 2,600 full-time jobs.
Construction is set to begin with an introductory building which will add 1,300 gaming machines to the existing ones at the temporary site. The introductory building will be part of the permanent structure that makes up the full casino.
Catawba Two Kings Casino Under Investigation
Catawba Two Kings Casino under investigation https://t.co/86vsy9fywG
— News19 WLTX (@WLTX) August 3, 2022
Last month, the National Indian Gaming Commission confirmed a federal investigation involving the Catawba Two Kings Casino. A report from the Wall Street Journal said that the investigation stemmed from a company profiting from the said casino which gave shares of stocks to family members of politicians as the casino backers were processing the federal approval of the project.
The report said that the company involved in the probe is Kings Mountain Equipment Supply, which has a contract with Two Kings Casino to supply half of the slot machines inside the casino. Kings Mountain Equipment Supply earns 20 cents per dollar spent at the casino’s slot machines or 20% of the slot machine profits.
According to the Wall Street Journal report, documents show that John Clyburn, the brother of South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, and Michael Haley, husband of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, both received shares of stocks in Kings Mountain Equipment Supply LLC. Clyburn and Haley both worked as consultants for the said company.
