Pope County Casino License Remains Fluid Following Arkansas Supreme Court Ruling
Posted on: November 25, 2023, 08:47h.
Last updated on: November 25, 2023, 08:47h.
The Pope County casino license in Arkansas authorized by voters through a 2018 statewide ballot referendum remains in flux.
The Arkansas Supreme Court last month upheld a lower judge’s ruling that the Arkansas Racing Commission (ARC) wrongly deemed Cherokee Nation Businesses and Legends Hospitality as the winner of the county casino license.
Cherokee Nation Businesses is the commercial gaming and hospitality unit of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Legends is a stadium concessions provider partly controlled by Arkansas native Jerry Jones.
The state’s high court ruled that ARC erred in qualifying the Cherokee/Legends bid because it violated Amendment 100 — the 2018 referendum that legalized a casino each in the counties of Crittenden, Garland, Jefferson, and Pope. The state Supreme Court said Amendment 100 required bids to come from sole entities, not a consortium such as the one from the Cherokees and Legend.
There were also legal concerns raised about Legends since the company has no experience developing, owning, or operating a casino. Amendment 100 said that only applicants that can “demonstrate experience in conducting casino gaming” should qualify for consideration.
Sides Submit Briefs
ARC picked the Cherokee/Legends bid over one other qualifying proposal. That pitch came from a company called Gulfside Casino Partnership, a Mississippi-based riverboat operator.
In response to the Arkansas Supreme Court ruling, ARC asked both sides to submit comments as to how each believes the state should proceed in further considerations of the Pope County casino license.
Attorneys representing the Cherokees/Legends bid have asked the state Supreme Court to reconsider upholding Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox’s opinion that the racing commission shouldn’t have considered their casino tender. Former Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, who is representing the Cherokees, wrote to the Racing Commission that he hopes the Supreme Court will provide further clarification.
“Supreme Court’s opinion is unclear on what steps are required to be taken next,” McDaniel said.
The Court focused its attention exclusively on the issue of having two names on the license,” he said. “Twice it speaks of vacating the license that was issued. However, the opinion remains silent as to whether Legends was a qualified applicant,” McDaniel wrote.
McDaniel said the court’s ruling “leaves open the door to an administrative fix.” That could include the Cherokees and Legends simply resubmitting their bid as a single entity, Legends Resort and Casino, LLC, McDaniel reasoned.
Attorneys representing Gulfside believe ARC should go back to the drawing board and conduct a second bidding round.
Local Support
The 2018 referendum required that bids be accompanied by a letter of support from the county judge or the county quorum court. That component brought additional legal wrangling into the Pope County casino matter.
The Cherokee/Legends plan has the support of Pope County Judge Ben Cross. The Gulfside plan submitted its bid with a letter of support from Ed Gibson, who issued his backing to the plan just days before he exited the Pope County judge seat in December 2018.
The Cherokees successfully argued in court, in a separate case that made its way to the Arkansas Supreme Court, that Amendment 100’s language stating that “the” before “county judge” and “county quorum court” refers to the current judge or court, not a former or retired county judge.
Gulfside attorneys believe ARC resetting and conducting a second bidding round would clear the air and allow Cross and the Pope County Quorum Court to reconsider the best presentation.
“This will allow all potential casino applicants to seek local support from Pope County officials and submit an application to be considered on the merits by the Racing Commission,” Gulfside attorney Casey Castleberry wrote.
Source: casino.org
