Tribal Community Overwhelmingly Votes Against North Carolina Casino
There were five ‘no’ votes for every three ‘yes’ votes, leaving Lumbee Tribe to find another use for land
It was, as one Facebook commenter called it, “a Tribe-wide repudiation.” Leaders of the Lumbee Tribe hoped to build a casino in a southern border town in North Carolina, but a Tuesday vote limited to registered tribal members soundly defeated the proposal, with 62.6% of the votes opposing the amendment.
Among 9,265 voters, just 3,490 supported the measure, while 5,775 voted against it. And there wasn’t a single precinct among the 21 in the mix where the “yes” votes exceeded the “no” votes.
The hope of Lumbee leaders, including Tribal Chairman John L. Lowery, was to build a casino-resort in Robeson County, provided a simple majority voted in favor of it. The Lumbee Tribe paid a reported $6.8 million for 241 acres of land off I-95 last year, and the proposal for the development included a casino, two hotels, condominiums, a convention/entertainment center, a golf course, and more.
But it was shouted down, and, as quoted in The Robesonian, Lowery accepted the result.
“This decision by the majority of Lumbee voters is historic and ensures we will not move forward with gaming,” Lowery said. “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.”
But Lowery’s frustration was evident in another portion of his statement: “As a federally recognized Indian tribe, we had the opportunity, like so many of our brother and sister tribes, to exercise our sovereign rights to the fullest and generate billions of dollars to assist our tribal members and lift this entire region.”
The tribe has spoken
The Lumbee Tribe shared the results of the special election on its Facebook page, and the comments in response provided a window into the mindsets of those who opposed the measure.
“This was not a close vote. It was a Tribe-wide repudiation,” wrote Em Locklear, whose profile says she lives in Chicago but is originally from Lumberton, North Carolina. “The Chairman may dislike the outcome, but he cannot plausibly characterize it as a small group standing in the way of progress. The Lumbee people, across all 21 districts, were given the question of whether to delegate this authority. They answered no; that is the sovereign people issuing an unmistakable instruction to their elected representatives.”
Responded Ricky Stewart: “[G]reat to hear. We do not need casinos, we need to create career jobs that will uplift the community.”
Larry Carter commented, “I've seen gambling destroy people and families in my lifetime. I’m very familiar with casino gambling, have been for 40 years. the casino will come though eventually, but anything I can do to hinder it, count me in.”
Some of the “yes” voters chimed in as well, with Mark Oxendine writing, “Such an incredible opportunity for the Lumbee people lost, disappointing. I can only imagine this is the result of misinformation and a lack of understanding of the impact this could have.”
Lowery said prior to the election that the 241 acres would be used for different economic development opportunities if the measure failed. One group that formed in opposition to the ballot measure, Lumbees United for Accountability, expressed prior to the vote that it was not necessarily against a casino project, but rather that it did not support this particular proposal and the amount of authority it would have given to Lowery.
Eric has been a professional editor and writer for more than 25 years, including nearly 20 years of experience covering the gambling industry. He was editor-in-chief of the poker magazine All In from 2005-2015 and manag…
