In Arkansas, a new casino gambling amendment was filed with the state Secretary of State that would allow 16 casinos. Three already exist and a fourth may yet open in Pope County. New venues would be authorized in Crittenden, Garland and Jefferson Counties, plus Pulaski, Fort Smith, Texarkana, Forrest City, Prescott and others. The casinos would be operated as individual commercial enterprises.
To be placed on the ballot, petition drives would have to collect more than 89,000 signatures by July 3. Backers believe federal Judge P.K. Holmes’ recent ruling easing ballot petitioning restrictions due to Covid-19 will help the drives.
The LLCs listed in the amendment have already been formed; many list Little Rock lawyer Todd Wooten as the incorporating agent. Wooten was a spokesman for Arkansas Wins 2018, which unsuccessfully tried to place a proposal for four casinos on the ballot.
This year, the campaign called Arkansas Wins 2020 recently filed paperwork with the Arkansas Ethics Commission. Tom Stone of Hot Springs is listed as chairman of that effort. No other officers are listed and the group has not filed a financial report as yet.
Another amendment would remove Pope County from Amendment 100, which expanded casino gaming in 2018. Jefferson County and the existing casinos in Hot Springs and West Memphis would not be affected.
The group behind this effort is Citizens for a Better Pope County and the campaign is called Fair Play for Arkansas. According to a spokesperson, “We are totally grassroots and we’ve been fighting casino gambling since Amendment 100 went to the ballot.”
Another group, Protect Arkansas Communities, incorporated earlier this year, also is battling new gambling proposals. It was funded with $400,000 from the three existing Arkansas casinos.
On June 18, the Arkansas Racing Commission will hear an evaluation of competing Pope County casino permit applications from Gulfside Properties of Biloxi and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
