Poker Writer
The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina voted down an amendment that would allow for a casino in a southeastern county, near the South Carolina border. Tribe Chairman John Lowery posted on Facebook that the tribe voted it down:
A majority of the Lumbee people have spoken, and they have said no to progress and have decided to stay with the status quo or simply staying with the way things are.
The proposed casino is along Interstate 95 in Robeson County. It would have included a wide range of amenities, including two hotels, a convention center, and a golf course. Around 9,000 tribal members voted, and the unofficial count landed squarely on no, 5,553 to 3,363.
Keep Reading
Lumbee Members Concerned Over Losing Gaming Rights
The tribe’s members had concerns about their gaming rights being taken away and passed solely into the hands of the tribal council. A casino itself appears not to have been their main issue.
The vote to approve it would have moved that authority to elected officials, chairmen, and council, something the members did not want to hand over.
The Lumbee Tribe was not recognized in North Carolina until December 2025. Once that official designation went through, the Tribe promptly purchased the plot of land along I-95 for development. Plans to develop a casino began in earnest.
Is the Lumbee Tribe Missing its Window for Gaming?
However, some on the council said they trusted elected officials and felt that the no vote wasted an opportunity. Wanda Burns-Ramsey was one of the Lumbee voting members who wanted to allow for the amendment in order to stave off competition. In her view, the Tribe must take advantage of recent federal recognition:
If you have a great opportunity and an idea, and somebody else finds out about it, sometimes you lose. We don’t want to waste this opportunity.
South Carolina has also considered plans for a casino on the I-95 corridor in the same area in Sandee, just a couple of hours south of the Lumbee Tribe’s area in North Carolina.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has opposed casinos and has not budged on the issue. But he has reached his term limits and will leave the office of governor in January, opening the door for other leaders more open to the idea of a casino in South Carolina.
Such a development would lessen the economic opportunity of the Lumbee, taking market share in the area.
Gambling has been a contentious issue in South Carolina in recent decades, so intense legislative debate would preclude any such expansion. Video poker games proliferated in the state from 1986 through 2000. Some legislators are loath to return to those days.
“It destroyed people’s lives,” one state senator warned.
Lumbee Casino Would Be Largest in Carolinas
Currently, there are only three casinos in North Carolina and none in South Carolina. Of the three in North Carolina, two are small. Harrah’s Cherokee is the only one of any size, located in the far western part of the state in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The Lumbee Casino would be more than 300 miles away, a full five hours from Cherokee. It would serve an entirely new part of the Carolinas in the eastern regions.
The projected plan would have brought more than 3,000 jobs and included a hotel, waterpark, mini-golf course and even a heritage center and museum. The entire Catawba and Lumbee Tribe area would be revamped by the casino.
Project Dead For At Least 18 Months
But for the foreseeable future, the plan is dead in the water following the Lumbee Tribe’s rejection vote. Lowery promised to not bring it up again in his tenure:
This decision by the majority of Lumbee voters is historic and ensures we will not move forward with gaming. I will honor the wishes of the majority, and I will not bring this issue forward again over the remaining 18 months of my tenure.
