Choctaw Casinos & Resorts

• 1. Introduction

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  Choctaw Casinos and Resorts is a chain of seven Native American casinos and hotels spread across Oklahoma, owned and operated by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. The flagship property in Durant sits on a 50-acre site and cost $860 million to build. It holds over 7,400 slot machines, more than 1,600 hotel rooms, and a gaming floor pushing past 218,000 square feet. How does a tribal bingo hall that opened in 1987 grow into one of the most visited resort complexes in the south-central United States? And who actually fills those rooms every week?

• 2. From Bingo to Billion-Dollar Resort

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  The Choctaw Casino Bingo opened in 1987 as the first entry in what would become the Choctaw gaming franchise. It stood on what is now the 50-acre Durant resort campus, operating as a modest bingo operation before the scale of demand became clear.

  In 2006, a $60 million resort was completed on the same site. That facility, later renamed the Link Casino, was barely finished before tribal officials concluded they had built too small for the crowds that kept arriving. Rather than slow down, they accelerated. In February 2010, a larger casino was built directly adjacent to the original resort and became known as the Grand Casino. The Bingo Hall closed shortly after that second facility opened.

  The South Casino, completed in 2006, added 108,844 square feet of floor space. The North Casino, finished in 2010, added another 110,000 square feet. Each wave of construction was driven not by speculation but by the evidence of the crowds already there. The Grand Hotel Tower rose atop the Grand Casino, adding 204,000 square feet of floor space, 330 rooms and suites across 12 floors.

• 3. The Texas Factor

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  About 75 percent of the customers at the Durant complex come from Texas, particularly from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The casino's marketing materials lean into this directly, positioning the resort as "One Hour North of Dallas." Television, radio, and internet advertising in the Dallas-Fort Worth area form the backbone of the outreach campaign.

  The draw is substantial. Between 20,000 and 25,000 people visit the Durant facility each week, adding up to roughly 1,200,000 visitors per year. Durant itself is a relatively small Oklahoma city, yet the resort has made it a genuine tourist destination drawing from Oklahoma, North Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Kansas. The geographic footprint of that visitor base shaped every subsequent expansion decision.

• 4. The Sky Tower and Aqua

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  The Spa Tower opened in 2015, adding 286 rooms and suites as part of an earlier expansion round. Six years later, the Sky Tower raised the scale further still. The 21-floor tower added 1,000 hotel rooms and suites to the property when it opened in August 2021, completing the latest phase of the resort's growth.

  Alongside the Sky Tower came Aqua, a 3-acre swimming complex open to all ages. Aqua offers two separate pools: a family pool and an adults-only pool for guests 21 and older. Water slides, a swim-up bar, cabanas, and hot tubs round out the amenities. An earlier water facility called The Oasis, which featured multiple pool areas, water slides, Jacuzzis, cabanas, and seasonal dive-in movies on an inflatable screen, was closed for renovations as of spring 2023.

• 5. Entertainment and Wellness

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  The District opened in September 2015 as the resort's dedicated entertainment center. It houses a video arcade, a movie theater, a bowling alley, and a virtual reality arena, and it operates as a non-smoking area within the broader complex.

  For Choctaw tribal members and tribal team members, the Choctaw Wellness Center provides a full gymnasium and an indoor walking track. Access is reserved for those with ties to the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. The Choctaw Inn on the main campus holds 101 hotel rooms, rounding out a lodging portfolio that spans everything from modest rooms to the thousand-room Sky Tower.

• 6. Network Beyond Durant

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  Durant is the flagship, but the Choctaw gaming network extends well beyond it. Four standalone casinos operate in Broken Bow, Idabel, McAlester, and Stringtown. Three additional casino and resort properties serve Grant, Pocola, and Hochatown.

  Beyond those eight standalone locations, the Choctaw Nation also runs 15 smaller Casino Too venues embedded inside travel plazas. Those locations stretch across Antlers, Atoka, Broken Bow, Calera, Durant, Grant, Heavener, Hugo, Idabel, McAlester, Pocola, Poteau, Stigler, Stringtown, and Wilburton. Revenue from across the entire network flows back into development and education programs for local communities and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, connecting the scale of the gambling enterprise to the welfare of the tribal nation that built it.