ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Eastern Band of Cherokees wants to bring poker to its Harrah's Cherokee Casino and Hotel but first must overcome strict federal rules and strong opposition to gaming in North Carolina.
Last month, an ad on the casino's Web site last month boasted of live poker tables as a coming attraction. Casino officials removed the ad while its own Tribal Gaming Commission investigates whether the casino can legally offer poker.
"We're considering poker at this point," said Cherokee Chief Michell Hicks. "It's nothing we're trying to hide. We're continuing to look at various options to allow us to diversify, especially in consideration to the job creation and unemployment rates we are addressing (through the casino) in western North Carolina."
North Carolina allows poker, including in its video form, as long as there are no cash payoffs. Cherokee casino officials said they would not take a cut of the poker profits.
"Basically, the house (casino) would get a fee and the players would play amongst themselves," Hicks said. "It's not a heavy moneymaker for the tribe. It gives clientele who don't have that option here in western North Carolina a chance to play."
The tribe faces significant opposition from social conservatives such as the Family Policy Council of N.C.
"The great concern we have is the rise in popularity of seven-card poker and Texas Hold 'Em is the fact that people seem to be drawn to it significantly," said John Rustin, the council's director of government relations.
"Certainly there have been economic gains the tribe has experienced in the region because of the casino," Rustin said. "But inevitably, individuals and families have been torn apart because of a gambling addiction. The expansion of gambling would facilitate and exacerbate that problem."
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