Choctaw will open Hochatown casino next month, giving North Texans a new gambling getaway

The Choctaw Nation is putting the finishing touches on its Hochatown casino and resort in an area of Oklahoma that’s a popular getaway destination for North Texans.

The $238 million Choctaw Landing is expected to do a soft opening in April with its grand opening ceremony in May as the Durant, Okla.-based tribe’s fourth casino and resort and eighth gaming facility. The Hochatown location is less than four hours from Dallas and about two hours east of the tribe’s flagship casino and resort in Durant.

“We’ve been communicating about spring of this year,” said Amy Davis, general manager of Choctaw Landing. “Definitely by the month of April. We’re right around the corner.”

Construction on the 202,000-square-foot resort began in June 2022 and will feature 100 hotel rooms, 600 slot machines, eight table games, a fitness center and pool. The facility will also have three conference rooms, four dining options, a small grocery store, a Starbucks and an outdoor amphitheater.

The company has also commissioned hundreds of pieces of art such as paintings and sculptures from members of Choctaw Nation will be displayed throughout the resort, paying homage to their Native American background.

“We are really incorporating our tribal Choctaw culture here. Choctaw Nation has a long history in Hochatown. Most of our tribal members still live around here in the proximity of Hochatown,” Davis said. “It’s something we try to represent at all our resorts, but it was something we knew we wanted to represent here. It’s a perfect fit for us.”

Hochatown, now a resort area close to Broken Bow Lake, was originally settled by the Choctaw Nation in the 1820s and was a Choctaw community until the 1900s. After prohibition passed, the community was flooded with outside settlers who helped make it the “Moonshine Capitol of Oklahoma,” according to the town’s historical database marker.

It wasn’t until 2022 that Hochatown was reestablished as an incorporated municipality with a population of about 240 full-time residents. Local leaders then began looking to sales and lodging taxes to pay for the town’s upcoming needs.

Nowadays, the town and its McCurtain County is a tourist destination for Texans lured by luxury cabins, boating and fishing.

Choctaw’s Hochatown gaming facility alone is expected to add 443,000 annual visitors to the region. The town has more than 2,000 active Airbnb listings with some even inside lavish $1 million rental homes, according to The New York Times.

“If you tried getting in this week, there probably would not be a cabin available,” Hochatown mayor Dian Jordan said. “So many people come out here on weekends. We want people from the metroplex to enjoy the same experience as me, sitting on a back porch and looking at redbud trees while listening to the birds.”

With so many people expected to descend on the region shortly, getting the town’s infrastructure up to snuff was the biggest test Choctaw faced while building the resort.

“It’s a very remote, resort type of destination and Hochatown is growing so much every day,” Davis said. “One of the things we noticed in trying to build this facility properly is how much the infrastructure was lacking.”

Choctaw invested $7 million in road construction, a wastewater treatment plant and improvements to the region’s fire department and utility services.

It also partnered with Choctaw Electric Cooperative and Western Farmers Electric Cooperative to build an electrical substation, which will help serve Hochatown’s residents and any businesses within a six-mile radius, Davis said.

Jordan said Choctaw is helping to fill important gaps amid a tourism boom.

“Here’s the funny thing: We’re in the middle of nowhere. We’ve never collected taxes in this town until the past few months. So everyone looks around and thinks there’s a ton of money and we haven’t really had it historically,” she said. “That’s going to be our biggest challenge over the next few years. We have to wait for the money to come.”

Gambling has also become a hot topic in Texas again. When Dallas billionaire Mark Cuban sold a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks to Las Vegas’ Adelson family, the owners of casino giant Las Vegas Sands, legalization talks heated up again.

Choctaw knows that could one day lead to competition for North Texans’ leisure dollars.

“As any smart business would do, we know there are competitors and noncompetitors in the future,” said Jeremy Whitaker, regional director of marketing for Choctaw Casinos and Resorts. “I don’t think we’re worried about it. But we’ve thought about it and we are aware that it is on the radar.”

Whitaker said doing right by its people is Choctaw’s top priority.

“Our main goal right now is to support the tribe. Unlike a lot of businesses out there where the profits go back to the CEO, we want it to go back to our tribal members,” he said. “Our goal is to continue to fund that and add sustainability to the tribe, town and our business venture.”

To Jordan, landing Choctaw is the win she’s been awaiting. The casino and resort will add 400 jobs to southeast Oklahoma and contribute $95 million to the region’s economy.

“Without us being incorporated, there were no rules, no building codes, no infrastructure,” she said. “Jelly Roll said it took him 20 years to become an overnight sensation and it’s the same for us in Hochatown. There’s things we’re building now we couldn’t have dreamed of before. The future, like the stars at night, is so bright here.”