They also approved an audit of the tribe's enrollment list, which could lead to some members being removed and losing their annual casino payouts. Although tribal law did not expressly forbid using the enrollment list for political gain, some council members felt that such courting of votes off the reservation amounted to ethical misconduct.īlankenship and Jones ended up keeping their offices, but voters later approved a proposal to bar tribe members who live off the reservation from voting in future elections. Principal Chief Leon Jones and council member Bob Blankenship were impeached for using the tribe's enrollment list to mail a campaign letter. Rows of slot, video poker and blackjack machines give the tribe an annual payout from Harrah's of $155 million, enough for each tribe member to get a $6,000 check every year.īut during last year's tribal election season, a simmering power struggle erupted between the 8,000 tribe members who live and work in Cherokee, and the 5,000 who live outside the reservation and long exercised absentee-voting rights.

'I feel a lot of people started coming out of the woodwork once we started getting bigger per capita payments.'Īt the heart of the conflict is the 60,000-square-foot Harrah's Cherokee Casino that seven years ago transformed the tribe's chronically depressed reservation into the only place in North Carolina where people can legally gamble. 'We're at a critical time in this tribe, and we need the resources here for revitalization efforts,' said Roseanna Belt, a tribe member who heads the Cherokee Center at nearby Western Carolina University. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians - a 13,000-member tribe rooted for centuries in what is now the Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina - is considering using DNA tests to assess its many 'absentee' members and determine who will be allowed to control, and share in, the casino millions. After decades in poverty, a scramble for newfound casino riches has turned one of the nation's most storied tribes against itself in a battle over bloodlines and who can be considered a real Cherokee.

Harrah's cherokee casino annual revenue