Global Gaming Solutions (GGS) and Oklahoma’s Shawnee Tribe will hold a groundbreaking ceremony in celebration of a project to expand the Golden Mesa Casino, according to a KFDA Channel 10 News report. The duo will kick off the event at 6PM on September 22.
The Oklahoma Panhandle’s only casino expansion has a $70m price tag and will add a 100-room hotel, along with an RV park. Golden Mesa’s gaming floor will double in size and will be home to more than 1,000 table games as part of the upgrade. Part of the renovation will include adding a full-service restaurant to the space.
The current 40,000 square-foot casino opened four years ago. The casino floor now features a restaurant, bar, retail shop, six table games and nearly 600 electronic games.
In other Oklahoma news, the state inches closer to legalized sports betting. However, officials say the fate of statewide sports wagering could be in the hands of Governor Kevin Stitt and other legislative leaders and their relationships with local Tribes.
State lawmakers previously struck down a recent sports betting bill that made it to the Senate committee. The bill failed to advance because the Senate committee wanted to see continued dialogue between the governor and Tribes.
However, Oklahoma Representative Ken Luttrell has introduced another bill, HB 1027, which recently made it past the preliminary stages needed to go to the full House Appropriations and Budget Committee and won the vote in the 59th legislature.
The proposed legislation would have “authorized in-person and digital sports gambling through Oklahoma’s tribal gaming compacts.”
