The Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, has been granted a license to operate by the Arkansas Racing Commission. The facility will be operated by the Oklahoma-based Quapaw Tribe’s Downstream Development Authority in Jefferson County.
The land where the casino will go is currently vacant although construction has already begun on a $350 million casino.
Quapaw tribal Chairman John Berrey commented after the vote: “Big day for my brothers and sisters in Pine Bluff and Jefferson County.”
“Probably in August, there will be job fairs. We’ve been having job fairs for construction workers. In five months we’ll have our gas station with an annex, which will have slot machines. We’ll have some food there,” he says.
The development was the only applicant for the Jefferson County license. The commission unanimously rejected license applications from five applicants for Pope County who failed to meet requirements, the main one being endorsements from officials who are in office at the time the application is submitted.
By contrast, the mayor of Pine Bluff and other current Jefferson County officials backed the Quapaw casino.
Interviewed later in the day the chairman told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, “I’m elated and exhausted. I’m really happy for Jefferson County and the people of Jefferson County. It’s really good for my tribe, my people. I heard they were watching it on TV. They’re all excited.”
Berrey said the tribe hopes to open the casino next spring. It will employ about 1,000 construction workers immediately and have about 1,100 permanent employees.
Last year the state’s voters amended the constitution to allow casino in Jefferson and Pope counties. It authorizes the existing Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs and Southland Gaming and Racing in West Memphis into Las Vegas style casinos.
Although based in Oklahoma, the Quapaw Nation historically inhabited the eastern and southern region of Arkansas but was relocated by force to Oklahoma. The Nation owns and operates the Downstream Casino Resort near the Missouri line and the Quapaw Casino in Miami, Oklahoma.
