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Tar Heel Travels

Harrah's Casino
The gaudy gambling parlor will welcome 3.5 million visitors this year

By Bill F. Hensley

Cherokee
Since it opened in 1997, Harrah’s Casino in Cherokee has been a major, and apparently irresistible, travel attraction. Patrons come from across the South like ants to a picnic, spilling from their cars, RVs, and chartered buses, hungry for an opportunity to win a few bucks at the slots and be entertained. This year more than three and a half million customers are expected to find their way to the spacious, gaudy gambling Mecca in the North Carolina mountains.

The players — many of them from Charlotte, Atlanta, Chattanooga and other cities within a 500-mile radius — flock to a gaming area the size of three football fields, their wallets bursting with hundred dollar bills. By mid-morning, hordes of gamblers, with women obviously in the majority, hunch over machines, pump in quarters by the cupful, puff on cigarettes, and watch for cherries, bars and assorted fruit symbols to flash brilliantly across the screen.

The “slots”— more than three thousand video games pulsating with fantastic colors, all computer operated — will take bills from $1 to $100, and players can bet any number of quarters on a game. The largest payoff so far has been a $200,000-plus jackpot that evoked raucous cheers and deep envy among the assembled crowd.

Yet while the amount of money these players take home (or leave behind) each year isn’t disclosed, it doesn’t take a mathematical brain to figure out that it’s sizeable, with odds always on the casino, of course.

“Being there when someone hits a jackpot is like seeing Santa Claus come down the chimney on Christmas Eve,” says one patron. But the large jackpot cashed in recently was a rarity since most payoffs are in the five or six thousand-dollar range.

For the unenlightened that have not made the westward trek in search of great riches, it must be explained that there are no more “one-armed bandits” as in days of yore. Today’s sophisticated machines require a few free operating lessons before inserting quarters at random. And there are no “dealers” as such, like the casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City and other gambling towns, and a few of the popular traditional games, such as roulette, are not offered. The only dealers at Harrah’s supervise digital blackjack games where even the playing cards are missing.

Unlike other casinos, there is no alcohol at Harrah’s of Cherokee because it is located on an Indian reservation, the 56,000-acre Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokees that is home to 13,000 native Americans. Casinos on reservations came as a result of a 1988 act of Congress that established the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act as an economic measure.

The Cherokee casino, controversial throughout the state at first, has provided the expected monetary boom. It employs 1,440 persons from surrounding counties, including about 500 of Cherokee descent. Last year’s payroll exceeded $48 million with the average salary topping the $37,000 mark.

Though strong and forceful, Principal Chief Leon Jones, a soft-smiling, likeable man, heartily endorses the casino. “We are a poor nation and the casino has helped bring us prosperity. It has provided money to each family on the reservation, it has paved roads, built homes and schools, and provided healthcare facilities.”

There is no shortage of things to see and do in the mountain village that adjoins the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Though the village is touristy and unattractive, a downtown restoration project is in the planning stages. Among the attractions are the Museum of the Cherokee, Oconaluftee Indian Village, Qualla Arts and Crafts, and in summer the fine Kermit Hunter outdoor historical drama “Unto These Hills,” which colorfully details 300 years of Cherokee history.

Last year the tribe, which owns the 175,000-square-foot casino but retains Harrah’s as the management company, received $139 million in payouts from the casino. The funds went to tribal operations and a payment of $5,800 to each tribal member. Since the casino opened seven years ago, each tribe member has received more than $20,000.

The casino, which never closes, offers excellent entertainment in its 1,500-seat auditorium. Featured recently were such stars as Bill Cosby, Jay Leno and the musical group Alabama. There are three restaurants and a gift shop in the building. Opening this month is a 252-room, 15-story luxury hotel next door to the casino and connected by a covered passageway.

Though Junaluska, Sequoyah, Tsali and other Indian heroes might not approve of gambling in the mountains they loved, the casino has found a home amid the Cherokee nation. And frankly, it’s more fun and less dangerous than fighting a bunch of cowboys. For more information, call 800-438-1601 or visit www.harrahs.com.

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