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Cherokee gaming LLC to expand its reach
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER
The company the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians formed earlier this year to purchase Caesar’s Southern Indiana Casino hopes to branch out its business interests, receiving approval from Tribal Council Dec. 9 to invest up to $12 million in gaming-related technologies and pursue construction of a sports betting bar on the tribe’s Exit 407 property in Sevier County.
“We’ve looked at over 20 companies, six of which we really like,” said Scott Barber, CEO of EBCI Holdings, Inc., of the $12 million investment. “They’re in various stages of Series A and B. Those are investment windows that are open for short periods of time.”
The $12 million investment would bolster the company’s mandate to develop commercial gaming ventures for the tribe and is also expected to yield a high rate of return, Barber said. The funds will come from the tribe’s existing investment accounts, which yield an annual return of about 10%. Barber expects that most of the anticipated investments will yield a return of three to five times the original amount once the company exits the investment.
“We’re striving for a much higher return on investment,” he said.
Most Tribal Council members supported the request, though some said they needed time to learn more before committing.
“It’s easy to prey upon people who don’t have the information and take advantage of them and that’s what I feel like,” said Big Cove Representative Teresa McCoy. “I’m not going to do it.”
The requested $10 to $12 million is a lot of money, she said, and she doesn’t feel comfortable allocating that amount to offBoundary business efforts when there’s great need at home.
“This is $10 to $12 million, and I am not comfortable with it because I know that tonight in my community there’s going to be homeless people,” she said. “There’s going to be hungry people.”
Yellowhill Representative T.W. Saunooke disagreed, saying he sees the resolution as an opportunity to reallocate current investments to bring back a higher rate of return.
“I have an educated decision that I’m able to make based off the information that’s been given to me,” he said. “The other comments about me not knowing, I kind of take a little offense to that.”
Snowbird/Cherokee County Representative Adam Wachacha said that pursuing investments like the one proposed is crucial in light of the Catawba Indian Nation’s planned casino in Kings Mountain (See Catawba, page 6).
“Just imagine the people that bought into Amazon,” he said. “There wasn’t any e-commerce at the time that was really going on, and those people that bought into Amazon as its early investors, they’re billionaires now because of that one idea. They believed in that idea. And I believe in the idea that this group has in trying to diversify our revenue so that we can sustain.”
Impact to the status quo of casino profits isn’t merely a threat, said Vice Chairman Albert Rose.
“It’s going to happen,” he said. “Especially what’s going on with Catawba.”
That means that the EBCI has to be aggressive with its business ventures, he said.
The resolution passed with a weighted vote of 62-38, with Chairman Richard French,
McCoy, and Wolfetown Representatives Bill Taylor and Bo Crowe voting to table it and the remaining members opting to pass it.
Council then considered a second ask from EBCI Holdings, this one a request for permission to venture into a new business category — opening an “experiential and interactive sports bar” on the Exit 407 property under development by the tribally owned Kituwah LLC. The bar will offer sports betting, said Barber, which is legal in Tennessee.
“Without getting into too much business strategy, we are going to create an experiential and interactive form of gaming that doesn’t exist,” he said.
As originally submitted, the resolution included a request for $40,000 from the tribe to cover a marketing and feasibility study, but floor amendments removed the funding request, as Barber said EBCI Holdings had the money to cover those costs itself. Instead, the company was just asking for Tribal Council’s blessing to pursue the opportunity, because its bylaws require the body to approve any new business ventures.
If successful, EBCI Holdings could duplicate the sports bar concept for other markets, said Secretary of Finance Cory Blankenship, who is also on the EBCI Holdings board.
“The idea would be to develop a product that we can deploy in other markets,” he said. “Hopefully the feasibility comes back that we have the first on tribal land, but it’s not restricted to tribal land. We could take this product to other markets.”
The proposal met with widespread approval from Council, with only two members — Taylor and Crowe — opposed. The resolutions require a signature from Principal Chief Richard Sneed to become effective.
— Scott Barber, CEO of EBCI Holdings, Inc.
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HAYWOOD ROTARY CLUBS DELIVER CHRISTMAS BOXES
Members from three Rotary Clubs in Haywood County delivered 651 Christmas dinner boxes Dec. 21 to local families. The Christmas box deliveries were made possible thanks to organi-
zations, churches and individuals that donated funds toward the annual project. Donated photo
Church offers free Christmas dinner
Webster Baptist Church is sponsoring its annual community Christmas outreach dinner to those who are home bound, in financial distress, in nursing homes without family and those in critical jobs having to work on Christmas Day.
More than 300 meals and gift bags will be taken to nursing home residents. Church members bake and deliver Christmas cookies for inmates in the Jackson County Detention Center. The church will also offer dine in and curbside pickup between noon and 2 p.m. at Webster Baptist Church’s fellowship hall.
Dinner will include smoked turkey, ham, green beans, stuffing, sweet potatoes, corn and dessert. For more information, contact Caitlin Snodgrass at 828.506.2297 or Kenneth DeRico at 828.226.2448.
Omicron spreading fast
Haywood County Public Health has received notice of 120 new cases of COVID-19 in the last week compared to 156 the previous week. As of Dec. 20, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has recorded a total of 8,280 cases in Haywood County since the pandemic began.
Wearing masks is encouraged whenever you plan to be indoors in public areas. Masks are required for employees and the public in all Haywood County government facilities including the courthouse, libraries, and public health buildings.
According to the CDC, all of North Carolina is listed as an area of high or substantial community transmission. All surrounding states are also high-transmission areas. This week 90.4 percent of new COVID cases were unvaccinated. Nearly all of those who require hospitalization are unvaccinated.
Three weeks after first being detected in the United States, the newest COVID-19 variant, Omicron, has quickly become the dominant variant in the United States, making up over 70% of new cases, according to the CDC. Given its rapid spread across the country, it is now safe to assume that the Omicron variant is here in Western North Carolina.
Vaccination appointments are available on a walk-in basis at the health department. To schedule an appointment, call 828.356.2019.
Tennessee man gets maximum sentence
A man who forced his way into a Macon County woman’s residence, assaulting and raping her, has been sentenced to the maximum possible prison sentence under state law, District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch said.
Last week, a Macon County jury found Joseph Ball, 42, of Etowah, Tennessee, guilty of second-degree forcible rape, first-degree burglary, interfere with emergency communications, kidnapping and assault on a female.
Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Bill Coward sentenced Ball to serve consecutive prison sentences on five criminal counts: rape (a minimum of 96 to a maximum of 176 months); burglary (a minimum of 84 to a maximum of 113 months); interfering with emergency communications (75 days); second-degree kidnapping (a minimum of 33 to a maximum of 52 months) and misdemeanor assault on a female (75 days).
On May 12, 2019, Ball knocked on the then 65-year-old woman’s door, claiming he had wrecked his truck nearby. The two were former co-workers. The woman told Ball, because he was intoxicated, that he could stay the night in another structure on the property. Later, he again knocked on her door. This time, he forced his way into her home. Ball attempted to use his intoxication as a defense, but the jury didn’t buy the argument.
“This area in Macon County is not somewhere you wind up by accident. It takes quite an amount of effort to get there,” Assistant District Attorney John Hindsman told Judge Coward, during the sentencing portion of the trial. “We truly do believe that this was a very intentional act by Mr. Ball. Being in a remote area, late at night, the victim’s age, as well as the nature in which the act that occurred, speaks volumes about the severity of his actions.”
Detectives with Macon County Sheriff’s Office handled the investigation. “The programs and resources provided by the Chamber have been critical to our local economy as we resume a normal business cycle. The opportunity to connect with others in the community has never been more important.
The Chamber has gone above and beyond to provide these opportunities and support the businesses and citizens of
Haywood County. As a Chamber Ambassador and member of the Chamber Board, I am honored to work with other leaders in support of our local economy. ”
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Chase Kress, CRM
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