Harrah’s Casino offers economic boom to tribe


Michell Hicks sees more than flashing lights and upscale decor when he looks at the renovations to Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort. He sees jobs. “The bottom line is about helping people,” said Hicks, the principal chief of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation, which owns the casino. “We’ve created a lot of jobs, not just for tribal members, but also for Western North Carolina,” he said. The casino employs 2,500 people, including 400 enrolled tribe members, said Brooks Robinson, the senior vice president and general manager of Harrah’s Cherokee. The casino contributes more than $380 million to the area’s economy, according to a 2011 study by the UNC Chapel Hill Kenan Flagler School of Business.