In Arkansas, the Russellville Planning Commission recently approved a development plan for the Cherokee Nation’s Legends Resort and Casino.
Legends would be the fourth and final state-sanctioned casino. But that’s just one small step forward in a very complicated journey.
It began in 2018, when Arkansas voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing casinos in Pope and Jefferson counties, and at the established racetracks in Hot Springs and West Memphis. The Quapaw Tribe’s Saracen Casino opened in October 2020. Legends Resort and Casino, formed as an Arkansas limited liability company on September 11, 2019, submitted an application for a casino license on January 15, 2020.
However, Pope County voters rejected the constitutional amendment allowing the four casinos. But that could not override the amendment’s provision that requires a county judge, quorum court or mayor of a casino-host city to support issuing a Pope County casino permit. In Pope County, Judge Ben Cross supports the Cherokee permit.
Just days before the city planning commission okayed Cherokee Nation’s casino plans, a group sponsored by the Choctaw Nation, Fair Play for Arkansas, turned in more than 100,000 signatures on a petition that would require a ballot measure to remove Pope County as one of the four approved casino counties. That’s 11,000 more signatures than the law requires. Submitting the signatures kicks off a 30-day process in which the state Board of Election Commissioners must certify the ballot title and popular name in order for the issue to appear on the statewide November ballot.
Legends officials said they will seek final permits and approvals to be ready to break ground as soon as several lawsuits associated with the issue are settled. A statement noted, “Considering the historical validity rate of petitions in the state of Arkansas, as well as the population of registered voters, indications are strong that based on what Fair Play says it will submit today, they will not meet the minimum numbers required to initiate the petitions.”
The statement continued, “Furthermore, a mountain of evidence exists to challenge significant improprieties pertaining to Fair Play’s signature-gathering efforts, including gross misrepresentation by canvassers of the ballot petition’s purpose, employment of persons with criminal backgrounds and improper notarization of petitions. We remain optimistic and will continue the fight to keep the constitutional amendment voters approved in 2018 intact, keeping billions of dollars in tax revenue and thousands of good-paying jobs in the state of Arkansas.”
Meanwhile, Fair Play for Arkansas spokesman Hans Stiritz said, “We’re extremely grateful for the support from voters across the state who signed our ballot petitions, allowing us to submit the signatures required to qualify for the ballot and move onto a statewide campaign. The citizens of Pope County are asking to be treated like our neighbors in the 74 other counties. We don’t want a casino mandated in our community. Now the voters of Arkansas will have the chance to support local control and end this corrupt process in Pope County once and for all.”
Fair Play also has asked the state to investigate the Arkansas Tourism Alliance for potential petition fraud. Cherokee Nation Business and Little Rock attorney David Couch formed the group with $1.1 million in March to fight the Fair Play repeal.
Fair play officials said, “Our canvassers have faced assault, physical intimidation, harassment and other threats. They have even been offered bribes by representatives of the opposing committee to discard legally gathered signatures. This appears to be a serious legal and ethical violation and should be investigated by state law enforcement.”
