See inside: “Pre-launch” of Vegas-style casino opens in July

What’s happening: This is a baby step toward opening the long-awaited Two Kings Casino Resort, which the Catawba Indian Nation is developing. Before the 195,000-square-foot mixed use development is complete in 2022, this satellite casino will give visitors a preview of what’s to come.

Why it matters: Gambling is heavily restricted in North Carolina, and this will be Charlotte’s closest casino.

• Farther out, the Cherokee tribe operates casinos in the far-western parts of the state.
• Sports betting only became available in N.C. this year — after Gov. Cooper signed a bill legalizing it in 2019. Two Kings Casino will be one of a few venues with “sports books.”

Both this temporary facility and the eventual Vegas-style casino will generate revenue and jobs for the largely rural area of Cleveland County, the town of Kings Mountain and the Catawba tribe in North and South Carolina.

• People form long lines on job fair days for a couple hundred jobs for this phase. Eventually, Two Kings Casino is expected to generate thousands of jobs.
• “It’s going to change the lives of Catawbas today and Catawbas of the future,” Catawba Assistant Chief Jason Harris says.

By the numbers: The 14,700-square-foot gaming area of the temporary casino, also called the “pre-launch” casino, is built out of 29 modular trailers and holds 500 slot machines.

• The completed casino, which costs an estimated $273 million, will add on another 1,300 slot machines as well as other table games like blackjack.

Food: In addition to an onsite bar, the pre-launch casino has an outdoor patio with rotating food trucks. Eventually it’ll have various restaurants and bars with a total of 940 seats.

Hours: It’s open 24/7. Casino general manager with Delaware North Chuck Kilroy says between 3 and 4am will be the best time to show up once it opens in early July. “We’re going to be very crowded,” he adds.

Flashback: The Catawba Nation entered into a compact with North Carolina’s government in January that would allow the tribe and the state to share revenues from the casino.

• It had to then go through a 45-day review with the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs.
• Catawba Chief Bill Harris received a letter on March 19 from the bureau saying everything looked good.

Here’s a look inside the temporary casino facility:

And here’s what the final casino will look like: