Creeks’ New Casino Hotel Changes Atmore Landscape

    ATMORE, Ala. (AP) - A 17-story casino hotel being built by the
Poarch Band of Creek Indians near Atmore rises out of the rolling
farmlands and pine forests of south Alabama. It’s an eye-catching
tower for the stream of travelers on Interstate 65.

    To make sure drivers don’t miss the casino exit, a 65-foot-high
electronic sign will beckon them to the site, which tribal leaders
hope will gain a reputation as a destination resort.

    The casino is to be filled with 1,600 electronic bingo games in
halls enlivened by the flashing lights and ringing bells of a Las
Vegas-style gambling palace.

    But that kind of high-stakes gambling still isn’t allowed in
Alabama—on or off tribal land, at least not yet—a divisive
issue for years between state officials and Alabama’s only
federally recognized American Indian tribe.

    Still, the hotel’s gleaming glass tower looming over the rural
landscape has raised expectations that the tribe’s investment will
pay off.

    Real estate agent Ann Gordon, whose office is near the hotel,
says she expects the tribe’s Wind Creek Casino & Hotel and a
city-owned business park planned across Highway 21 from the hotel
will create the type of interstate-exit growth familiar around the
United States.

    The new Atmore casino on a 35-acre site is expected to open in
January, followed by the 236-room hotel in Februar