The Carolina Panthers have landed a new sponsorship partner ahead of the 2025 NFL season. This week, the team announced a multiyear partnership with the Catawba Two Kings Casino, a $1 billion resort under construction in nearby Kings Mountain.
Under the revealed terms of the deal, the casino will have visible advertising displayed during the Panthers home games, and fans 21 and older can register for the TwoKings Lucky North Rewards program at Bank of America Stadium.
Catawba Receives Panthers Suite, Tickets
The casino will also have use of a 20-person luxury suite and lower-level seats it can use as rewards for its prominent Lucky North members, vice president of the Catawba Nation Gaming Authority vice president Trent Troxel said in a release.
The permanent Catawba Two Kings casino has been in the works for years. A temporary structure has been open since July 2021 while the South Carolina-based tribal nation has tried to get the permanent resort finalized. When that opened, the Catawba Nation facility became the third tribal casino in North Carolina and the closest to the state’s largest city. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians operate two casinos in the far western portion of the state.
As it stands now, the temporary casino will give way to an “introductory” casino at the resort next spring. The completed resort, which will feature a 24-story hotel and 11 dining options, is set to open the following year. This in-person option is in addition to a robust online North Carolina sports betting market that has been available since March 2024.
"While our temporary casino has continued to gain in popularity since opening in 2021, many more people will learn about it at Panthers home games,” Troxel said. “And the timing couldn't be better as significant construction has been completed on our permanent casino resort and the partnership will still be in place when it opens.”
Latest Gaming Partner For Panthers
The casino will be the second gaming partner for the Panthers, who also inked a multi-year deal with FanDuel prior to the launch of North Carolina sports betting in March 2024.
Two Kings has a brick-and-mortar sportsbook at its current facility, and that will move into the permanent resort. As a tribal casino, it is allowed to operate a sportsbook onsite thanks to a state law passed six years ago.
Catawba officials applied for an online license that would allow it to operate a North Carolina sportsbook app and market its casino statewide. However, it is the only one of the nine original applicants not to have activated its license.
Messages to Delaware North, the gaming company that manages the casino for the tribal nation, and the North Carolina State Lottery Commission have not yet been returned.
Theoretically, the tribal nation could get statewide access through a partnership with the Panthers. While the announcement only focuses on the casino, North Carolina’s sports betting law allows any of the state’s major professional sports teams and venues to partner with a sportsbook for an online license. The FanDuel North Carolina Sportsbook has a market access agreement in the state through the PGA Tour.
North Carolina sports betting has enjoyed one of the most remarkable starts of any of the 38 states to offer regulated wagering to their residents. The state received more than $127 million through the first 12 months, nearly double the $65 million the state expected for the first year.
The increased revenue has led to lawmakers considering uses for the additional funding, including providing the North Carolina Tar Heels and the North Carolina State Wolfpack with millions of dollars for their athletic programs to keep them competitive with other major colleges as the NCAA enters a new era of revenue sharing with student-athletes.
You can find real money NC sportsbook promo codes here at BetCarolina.com along with continued industry coverage.
USA Today photo by Griffin Zetterberg
