Osage Casinos, the operational arm of the Osage Nation, has offered a media tour of its new hotel and casino in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. The property is located at 1421 John Dahl Avenue and will feature 50 slot machines, a meeting space and a 47-room hotel.
The facility is currently under construction, being built on 60 acres in the northern Oklahoman city, and is expected to be completed in late 2023.
Osage Casinos CEO Kimberley Pearson commented: “This has been a project that has been about 12 years in the making, from purchasing the land to placing the land into trust and now to starting the construction and being halfway through.
“The nation ran into some supply chain issues, much like the rest of the country, that delayed us by roughly a year. But we are now back on schedule and excited to bring this new facility to the nation.”
Pearson describes Pawhuska as ‘the beating heart of the Osage Nation.’ Osage Casinos already owns and operates seven casinos in The Sooner State but views this one with particular reverence.
The casino entered its planning stages in 2014 but underwent a series of setbacks related to construction costs and planning permissions. The Osage Nation finally broke ground on the project in 2021, along with another casino site in Bartlesville (which is also yet to open).
Osage Nation Assistant Chief R.J. Walker commented: “It’s been a difficult process to get through construction. We’re not the only ones who are dealing with that.
“Osage Casinos has been working on expanding casino operations for decades now, and we’ve gotten to this point where we are ready and able to build a casino in Pawhuska which is the capital of the Osage Nation.
