One of the leading opponents of the casino proposal is former Congressman Mark Walker, a Republican running for governor. “For me, anyway, the idea of a commitment for an investment of at least $1.5 billion, job creation of at least 5,200 jobs, with no taxpayer dollars going into it – just struck me as kind of a sweet spot if we’re going to authorize additional gaming,” Berger said.īut it’s a proposal that’s dividing the GOP. The southeastern site would be operated by the Lumbee Tribe, while a private company would get a state contract for the others. But draft legislation opens the door to alternative sites in Caswell, Vance, Wilson and Warren counties. The likely locations include Rockingham, Nash and Anson counties, and a site in southeastern North Carolina. The legislation under consideration requires casino operators to spend a minimum amount at four sites across the state. “Even with all the great things that are happening around the state … we still have places that have not grown much.” “One of the things that convinced me that it’s the right thing to do was the idea that these entertainment areas, rural tourism areas, are things that provide a boost to the economy in counties that a boost has not been forthcoming,” Beger said.

The WUNC Politics Podcast is a free-flowing discussion of what we're hearing in the back hallways of the General Assembly and on the campaign trail across North Carolina. The Danville facility is one of several new casinos authorized by Virginia’s legislature, and most are near the state’s southern border with North Carolina. When it opens next year, it will include a 500-room hotel and convention center with a 2,500-seat theater – the sort of facility that could draw performances and business conferences that Danville hasn’t hosted before. Just behind the tent at the site of a long-abandoned textile mill, construction crews are building a much larger facility.

Even on a weekday afternoon, the place is busy, with a parking lot full of cars - many of them sporting North Carolina plates. Upbeat music and the faint smell of cigarettes fill the air (yes, indoor smoking is allowed) as visitors try their luck on rows of brightly colored slot machine screens.

They see a recently opened casino in Danville, Virginia - a few miles north of the state line - as an example of how gambling could help economically challenged communities.Ĭaesars opened a temporary casino in Danville in May in a giant air-conditioned tent. North Carolina lawmakers are considering a plan to allow up to four new casinos in rural areas of the state.

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