It's the first of its kind in Georgia: A development with up to 425 gambling machines allowed under one roof.
But Channel 2 Action News has uncovered a land deal that DeKalb Commissioners did not know about before going "all-in" on the project.
Investigative Reporter Jodie Fleischer's search for the new land owner took her to a Louisiana Indian reservation, raising questions about just who is gambling on this new DeKalb development.
It was billed as a "barcade," similar to an arcade for children, but with bars, boutiques and high-end restaurants for adults.
When commissioners first approved the new Panola Slope development for Covington Highway in December, neighbors immediately had questions.
"You're talking about a paradise in the ghetto," said Joel Edwards. "It don't make no sense."
Edwards lives near the project site and could not understand why anyone would want to stay at a resort in a blighted community just to eat dinner or play video games.
Especially since the developer, APD Solutions, couldn't sell the brand new townhouses that are already there.
"If no one wants to pay $180,000 to live there, why would you pay $180 a night to go to a resort on Covington Highway?" Trey James asked commissioners during the public comment section of the meeting.
APD Solutions CEO Vaughn Irons said it's all in good fun.
"[It's] kind of an adult, high-energy area which will have virtual reality and some other types of games for people to play," said Irons.
He added that his "barcade" concept will create 130 jobs and bring more than $46 million in economic impact in the first year.
"We're going to turn minds, and people are going to find out something different than they believed before," Irons told Fleischer.
But records show the whole project may be "something different" than what the commissioners believed when they approved up to 425 coin-operated amusement machines for that location.
That's 3,000 percent more than currently located anywhere else in Georgia.
Georgia's Lottery Corporation limits the number of machines in one location to nine; however cities and counties are authorized to allow more than that.
The most video gambling machines in any Georgia location currently is a Stockbridge gas station with 14.
DeKalb commissioners approved a zoning change and special land use permit for 425 machines at Panola Slope in December.
But property records from nine months earlier show the developer, Irons, had already sold the land to a company called Red Alligator LLC incorporated under the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana. The company has no records on file with the Secretary of State Corporations Division in either Georgia or Louisiana.
Fleischer traveled to the Indian reservation in search of Red Alligator's business address. She located it inside the tribe's community center, and right down the street from the tribe's main enterprise, The Paragon Casino.
The Tunica-Biloxi tribe's vice chairman, Marshall Sampson, is also the CEO of Red Alligator.
"We're well known for our food in Louisiana, we're trying to bring that to DeKalb County, a great time, great entertainment," Sampson told Fleischer.
Red Alligator paid $6 million for the land and Sampson said the tribe would not be able to get approval to make it tribal property, or a full Indian casino with cash payouts. He says the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe has no history in Georgia.
Fleischer asked Sampson if this DeKalb development would, in fact, be a casino.
"No! Casinos are illegal in Georgia," replied Sampson.
Irons told Fleischer he sold the land to Red Alligator to raise money to pay off his earlier investors so he could start over with this new project.
However, records show he would have lost the land anyway in a tax sale just days later. He was behind about $175,000 on his property taxes.
Even if his Panola Slope guests would just be winning vouchers for a drink at the bar, a steak dinner or lottery tickets, 425 machines would be radical.
Records show representatives approached the Georgia Lottery Corporation with questions, but did not offer specifics of the project and no applications for licenses have been submitted yet.
Commissioner Jeff Rader said he did not know about the land deal with the tribe or its casino ties when he voted to approve the project.
"It looks like they're in the casino business rather than in the Dave & Buster's business," said Rader, referencing the popular arcade concept to which Panola Slope was originally compared.
The vote to approve the development was heavily backed by Commissioner Stan Watson, who is on the project payroll as a consultant, and by Irons, who also serves as Chairman of DeKalb's County's Development Authority.
Irons said he hasn't asked for any public money for the project, adding that he's betting on the revitalization of the Covington Highway area of DeKalb County, not a casino.
"I think that's a ridiculous notion," said Irons. "I'm not a gambling operator; I'm a very concerned citizen of the county."