{"id":10939,"date":"2026-06-25T06:59:54","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T06:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/lumbee-tribe-rejects-casino-amendment-in-north-carolina\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T06:59:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T06:59:54","slug":"lumbee-tribe-rejects-casino-amendment-in-north-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/lumbee-tribe-rejects-casino-amendment-in-north-carolina\/","title":{"rendered":"Lumbee Tribe Rejects Casino Amendment In North Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Lumbee Tribe members voted down a constitutional amendment that would have given tribal leaders more power to pursue casino gaming along Interstate 95 in Robeson County.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><em><strong>Good to know<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><strong>About 63% of voters opposed the amendment.<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Nearly 10,000 enrolled tribal members voted across 21 precincts and by absentee ballot.<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><strong>The existing Lumbee constitution still allows gaming, but only through a referendum with at least 30% voter participation.<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong>Vote Centered On Power Not Just Casino Gaming<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The result effectively stops the <a href=\"https:\/\/igaming.org\/casino-news\/lumbee-casino-plans\/\">current casino plan<\/a>, at least for now. Tribal Chairman John Lowery said the vote <em>\u201censures we will not move forward with gaming,\u201d<\/em> and added that he will not bring the issue back during the final 18 months of his term.<\/p>\n<p>Yet the ballot was not only a casino question. The proposed amendment would have removed the existing referendum requirement and shifted more authority to the tribal chairman and Tribal Council. That authority would have covered gaming compacts, regulation and gaming commission appointments.<\/p>\n<p>Opponents said that structure gave leadership too much control. Lumbees United for Accountability argued that members should keep direct voting power over any gaming plan. Some voters may have supported casino development in principle, but not the proposed change to tribal governance.<\/p>\n<p>Lowery presented the vote in more direct terms: pass the amendment and the tribe pursues gaming, reject it and the casino plan stops. That framing left little room for members who wanted economic development but did not want to weaken the referendum safeguard.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Economic Case Ran Into Governance Concerns<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The casino plan had clear economic appeal. Robeson County has the lowest median household income in North Carolina at $42,180, the smallest per capita tax base and one of the highest unemployment rates in the state. The county population fell 8% over the last decade while North Carolina grew 11%.<\/p>\n<p>Supporters said an I 95 casino could create around 3,000 jobs and give the tribe more money for education, health care, housing and public safety. Lowery had asked the Tribal Council to imagine what a $540 million budget could do for the Lumbee community.<\/p>\n<p>Federal recognition also raised the stakes. The tribe <a href=\"https:\/\/igaming.org\/casino-news\/north-carolina-casino-map-could-change-after-lumbee-recognition\/\">received full federal recognition<\/a> in December after a fight that lasted more than 130 years, creating a new path toward gaming rights used by other federally recognized tribes.<\/p>\n<p>Competition added urgency. South Carolina has considered commercial casinos near the I 95 corridor, including sites close to Dillon and Marlboro counties. A project there could compete directly with any future Lumbee casino for travelers.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Future Casino Path Remains Open<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The failed amendment does not permanently ban Lumbee casino gaming. The current constitution still permits a gaming referendum if at least 30% of eligible tribal voters participate.<\/p>\n<p>That leaves a future chairman or council with another path, but not the one Lowery wanted. The tribe also owns 241 acres near an I 95 interchange, purchased for $6 million. That land could still support a casino proposal under a different process, or it could become an industrial development site.<\/p>\n<p>For now, Lumbee members chose to keep the stronger referendum rule in place. The casino plan lost because the governance change and economic promise arrived as one package, and voters declined that trade.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/igaming.org\/casino-news\/lumbee-tribe-rejects-casino-amendment-in-north-carolina\/\">Lumbee Tribe Rejects Casino Amendment In North Carolina<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/igaming.org\/\">iGaming.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lumbee Tribe members voted down a constitutional amendment that would have given tribal leaders more power to pursue casino gaming along Interstate 95 in Robeson County. Good to know About 63% of voters opposed the amendment. Nearly 10,000 enrolled tribal members voted across 21 precincts and by absentee ballot. The existing Lumbee constitution still allows [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"blocksy_meta":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}