Coweta economy poised for explosion with $100 million casino

The Muscogee Nation is building a $100 million casino on the north side of town, which will bring 250 jobs and result in the city’s largest private employer, slightly edging its current largest private employer — Walmart.

“It’s going to be a game changer,” said Coweta City Manager Julie Casteen.

A groundbreaking for the casino, on the southeast corner of 131st Street and Oklahoma 51, is tentatively expected for the first week in November, with plans for it to open in spring of 2026.

The 104,000-square-foot development in the Wagoner County city will be about 25 miles southeast of downtown Tulsa and about 10 miles from central Broken Arrow.

In Oklahoma, municipalities must rely on sales taxes — and cannot use property taxes — to hire and pay police officers and firefighters and to maintain city streets and bridges.

“For us, the casino itself won’t really provide that much revenue directly, … but we expect that other growth is going to happen around it,” Casteen said.

“It will bring some of that retail and dining, that kind of thing. So we will see a boost in our sales tax at some point, but not right off the bat.”

In addition to the 35,000-square-foot casino with 750 state-of-the-art gaming machines, the development will have a 46-room hotel with a pool, fitness center, concierge services, and a meeting and event space to accommodate as many as 150 guests, officials said.

“It’s going to drive a lot of things. I’m sure we’ll get another hotel down the road, … but the tribe is also open to partnering with us for different needs that we have not related to the casino at all,” Casteen said.

“It’s going to be a big benefit, either way. And then just the jobs, too, for people that are looking for something right here, where they live,” she said.

Motorists on Oklahoma 51, the state highway stretching about 10 miles between Coweta and the Broken Arrow Expressway/Muskogee Turnpike, already see pockets of development with convenience stores and small shopping centers.

And dozens — if not hundreds — of homes are also being built.

With about 340 employees, Coweta Public Schools is the city’s largest employer. School enrollment, currently about 3,512, has grown by more than 17% since 2005.

Voters last year by a nearly 85% margin passed a record $50.2 million bond issue for improvements to Coweta schools, including additions and storm shelters.

The city’s population was nearly 11,000 in 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, an increase of 3.2% from 2022, making it the second-fastest-growing city in the Tulsa metropolitan area after Owasso, which had growth of 4.6% during the same time period.

Bixby had a growth rate of 3% from 2022 to 2023, according to the Census Bureau, while the city of Tulsa had growth of 0.04%.

Coweta’s population has nearly doubled in the past 20 years. The population growth through 2023, according to the Census Bureau:

• 2020: 9,713 — 1,125 increase (+11%)
• 2010: 9,338 — 1,448 increase (+15.5%)
• 2000: 7,580 — 3,206 increase (+42.3%)

Coweta’s roughly 11 square-mile city limits stretch in an “L” shape nearly 8 miles from its north side near the Muskogee Turnpike south to past its downtown, and about 5 miles east toward Wagoner.

Currently, about 90% of the city’s sales tax revenue comes from the Walmart Supercenter on the north side of town, Casteen said.

Christy Wheeland worked for the Coweta American and Wagoner County American-Tribune newspapers for more than 30 years. She was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame this year and has been executive director of the Coweta Chamber of Commerce about four years.

Wheeland and Casteen imagine that with the casino development, the area on the north side of Coweta eventually could resemble the north side of Bixby at 101st Street and Memorial Drive — or Catoosa, where the area adjacent to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa now has a plethora of shops and restaurants.

“It’s not going to be on that (Catoosa) scale,” Casteen said. “We don’t have the property available for a lot of those things, but it’s going to drive a lot of other things.”

“You’re going to have people that are going be new to town and once they see something, they are going to want to come back,” Wheeland said.

Wheeland said the new $93 million 12,500-seat Sunset Amphitheater, being built nearby in Broken Arrow, also will draw many eventgoers through Coweta.

The amphitheater — being constructed on property north of New Orleans (101st) Street adjacent to the Creek Turnpike and near Broken Arrow’s Rosewood Elementary School and Events Park — is expected to open for the 2025 touring season.

“When that amphitheater — about 10 minutes up the road — comes in, … people are going to be coming through our community to go to those concerts at that venue,” Wheeland said.

“They’re going to stop at the convenience store. They may run into Walmart on the way home. But they are going to be coming through our community to get there.”

Since 2019, the Muscogee Nation has invested more than $11.1 million in infrastructure and pubic safety in Coweta and nearby parts of Wagoner County, including road maintenance, fire department assistance, and water treatment and distribution, the tribe said.

The Muscogee Nation approached the city about two years ago about the casino project, Casteen said, adding at the time it was very “hush, hush.”

She said that while a few, but vocal, local residents on social media have since come out against the new casino development, most are welcoming it.

“We have a few (upset) people who like to stir the pot on Facebook, and they’ll put something out there and you’ll get hundreds of responses,” Casteen said. “And if you look at each of those responses, I would say probably 90 to 95% of them are positive, because they understand that this is going to be something to help our community in the long run.”

Pat Crofts, CEO of Muscogee Nation Gaming Enterprises, spoke to the Tulsa World last week about the casino project.

“We’ll do anything in our power to be a positive neighbor,” he said.

The tribe is paying for the needed infrastructure adjacent to the casino project, including a new traffic signal on Oklahoma 51.

“I think it will be a really nice addition for the city of Coweta,” Crofts said. “I think there will be a lot of (nearby) restaurants and coffee shops and those sorts of things that will be be built.”

Security will be provided by Muskogee Nation Lighthorse Police; Coweta police officers have been cross-deputized with the Nation in case of assistance, and the Coweta Fire Department will provide fire response, officials said.

“When the Muscogee Nation invests in of one of our communities, it is more than just building and maintaining infrastructure — it is laying the groundwork for generational prosperity,” Muscogee Nation Principal Chief David Hill said in an email to the Tulsa World for this story.

“Through capital investments, we honor our heritage by ensuring that lives are improved, opportunities are created and a better future becomes possible for all,” he said.