Harrah's Cherokee
| Harrah's Cherokee | |
|---|---|
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| Location |
Cherokee, North Carolina United States |
| Address | 777 Casino Drive |
| Opening date | November 1997 |
| Number of rooms | 1,108 rooms, 107 suites |
| Notable restaurants | Ruth's Chris Steak House Brio Tuscan Gille Dunkin Donuts Express Chef's Stage Buffet Johnny Rockets Lobby Cafe Noodle Bar Selu Graden Cafe UNO Pizza Earl of Sandwich |
| Casino type | Indian casino |
| Owner | Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians |
| Operating license holder | Caesars Entertainment |
| Previous names | Cherokee Tribal Casino |
| Coordinates | 35°28′11″N 83°18′17″W / 35.46983°N 83.304807°WCoordinates: 35°28′11″N 83°18′17″W / 35.46983°N 83.304807°W |
| Website | harrahscherokee |
Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort is a casino and hotel on the Qualla Boundary in Cherokee, North Carolina. It is owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and operated by Caesars Entertainment. It is located on the site of the former Frontier Land theme park. It is one of two casinos in North Carolina. A sister property, Harrah's Cherokee Valley River Casino in Murphy, North Carolina opened on September 28, 2015.
Harrah's Cherokee opened in November 1997 with video poker as the only gaming option. This followed the opening of a tribal bingo parlor in the early 1990s, which was quite profitable and led to calls for a casino. The casino came after several years of discord between the State of North Carolina and the Eastern Cherokees. Governor Jim Hunt resisted the casino, but the state was forced to enter into an agreement with tribal authorities by the federal courts. Since then, the tribe has used its casino revenues to build a new high school, a hospital, and public housing, and to upgrade public safety services on the reservation, such as police, fire and EMS. Part of the casino's revenue is also distributed directly to the Cherokee population, in a form of basic income. The casino is also credited with opening the door for gambling in North Carolina, which was the only state in the region not to have a lottery. The casino also heralded a relaxation of alcohol laws in the area, with liquor-by-the-drink being legalized in nearby Bryson City, Sylva, and Cherokee itself.
Harrah's Cherokee has three hotel towers (Creek Tower, Soco Tower, and the Mountain Tower) with a total of 1,108 rooms, making Harrah's Cherokee the largest hotel in North Carolina.
Since the tribe's compact with North Carolina restricts the types of gaming permitted, most of the games offered have significant differences with those found in other casinos. The compact with North Carolina requires games to have an element of skill. For most of the video slot machines, this means that after an initial spin of the reels, the player is allowed to lock selected reels in place and spin again, holding reels with valuable symbols in hopes of matching them up with winning symbols on the second spin. (This differs from "regular" slot machines, in which the reels usually spin only once after credits are played, although video poker everywhere allows players to hold cards before the second spin.)
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