While a timeline for a permanent facility for the Catawba Two Kings Casino remains unclear, the fact that the casino is operating in temporary accommodations is no longer going to hold it back from offering guests live table games. However, the casino needs to add a significant number of staff to fulfill its plans.
Catawba Two Kings Casino has confirmed plans to offer 12 live gaming tables at its temporary facility. That would represent a substantial expansion of its gaming offerings as the casino operator has other ambitions in the works.
Catawba Two Kings Casino will offer craps, blackjack and other games
If you visit the Catawba Two Kings casino right now, you’ll find temporary accommodations and a variety of slot titles. When it comes to popular casino games like craps, blackjack, and roulette, though, electronic versions are your only options.
According to Daniel Pierce of Queen City News, the casino wants to change that soon. Brian Harris of the Catawba Nation, which operates the casino, said that the casino plans to hold dealer classes starting March 25 to train live dealers for table games.
Harris continued by stating that the casino needs to add 160 employees to run the 12 gaming tables. The casino will add new temporary accommodations on land it recently acquired to house the tables. The games will include poker variants like Mississippi stud and three-card in addition to mini-baccarat.
While Harris was forthcoming about the table games staffing needs, details about other gaming projects for the Catawba Nation were not as available. For example, Pierce reports that a firm construction timeline for the permanent casino on land the Catawba Nation owns is still vague.
At the same time, Harris did disclose that the Catawba Nation hopes to have the facility open by early 2027.
Information about another project related to the Catawba Nation’s gaming business remains scant, though.
Online sports betting is still in the works
The Catawba Nation’s gaming enterprise has completed an application for a license to offer online sports betting in North Carolina. To date, it is the only party to do so which has not yet received such licensure.
Rather than partnering with an established online gambling brand as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians did with Caesars, Catawba seems determined to build out its online sportsbook platform. As the North Carolina Lottery cannot issue a license until it tests the platform for compliance, that development will have to be completed first.
Thus, it’s uncertain exactly when a Catawba Two Kings-branded online sportsbook will be available in North Carolina. The tribal authority has not shared any updates on the development process of the product.
The temporary physical casino does include a place where visitors can place bets on sports in person. For the time being, that will be the extent of Catawba Two Kings’ sportsbook operations. While it’s possible to devote resources to both projects, getting the live table games up and running could be the higher priority for casino officials right now.
Slots are the cash cow of casino gaming. However, table games still tend to be more reliably lucrative for casinos than sports betting. Additionally, revenue-sharing agreements with the state of North Carolina when it comes to table games revenue probably amount to a lower cut for the state than the share of online sports betting revenue North Carolina would get.
It takes money to make money, though. Before Catawba Two Kings can start making money from live table games, it is investing in staff.