The construction of a bridge and entrance road to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ second casino in Murphy has jumped from not even on the radar to the front of the N.C. Department of Transportation’s list of top road-building priorities.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians could open a new $110 million casino in Murphy as early as spring 2015, with a temporary gambling operation up and running on the site in just a year from now.

All bets are on in Cherokee.

The first major poker tournament held at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Resort has lured crowds of card sharks from the southeast and beyond, surpassing attendance expectations, and even breaking records.

The 12-day event, organized by the World Series of Poker, drew hundreds of participants from big poker names to hometown mavericks. The series is a professional poker circuit that hosts tournaments around the country in top gambling spots like Atlantic City, Chicago and Las Vegas. Now, you can add Cherokee to that list.

Cherokee Tribal Council was asked to green light the construction of a second $110 million casino and hotel near Murphy last week but instead voted to table the issue for further study.

The new casino could add about 800 jobs to the area and expand Cherokee’s market reach, according to projections by the Tribal Casino Gaming Enterprise, which is advocating for the project.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians could decide soon whether to move forward with a second casino near Murphy, but some tribal members are raising concerns.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians was accidentally overbilled $2.7 million for IT service over several years by the company that manages Harrah’s Casino.

Twice a year, Dorothy Posey arrives for her job at Mountain Credit Union in Cherokee knowing one thing: the lines will be long.

Not the sort of long by normal bank standards, like the 10-person-deep line that might form during the peak of Friday afternoon payday traffic. But so long that the line from the teller’s counter will snake out the credit union’s front door and continue to pile up outside.

A Cherokee judge ruled last week in a case that could affect a long-range plan of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to build a low-level casino on a satellite tract of the reservation outside Andrews.

The case also has implications for how the tribe handles property willed by tribal members to heirs who are not Cherokee.

The advent of live dealers and table games at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino is widely predicted to bring sweeping economic benefits to the region — benefits that are so far-reaching even the tiny landing strip known as the Jackson County Airport could land a piece of the action.

After nearly a decade of negotiations and broken promises, the state finally approved an agreement that allows table games with live dealers at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino.

The Eastern Band has worked since the early 2000s to get the state’s John Hancock on a live gaming compact, and now, it’s just a matter of weeks before the longtime dream comes to fruition.