Legends Resort & Casino Deemed Sole Qualified Bid in Arkansas’ Pope County

Posted on: June 13, 2024, 03:17h. 

Last updated on: June 13, 2024, 03:17h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

The Arkansas Racing Commission (ARC) says only the Legends Resort & Casino bid submitted by Cherokee Nation Entertainment qualifies for further consideration to gain the lone commercial gaming license earmarked for Pope County.

Arkansas Pope casino Cherokee Legends Resort
Cherokee Nation Entertainment’s casino plan for Arkansas’ Pope County called Legends Resort & Casino is the only qualified bid. The Arkansas Racing Commission will now review the submission. (Image: Cherokee Nation Entertainment)

Gaming commissioners said yesterday that the agency received two bids for the final remaining casino license in the state. Along with the $300 million Cherokee plan, an entity based in Mississippi called Gulfside Casino Partnership presented ARC with a $405 million scheme called River Valley Casino Resort.

Both projects target Russellville but only the Cherokee submission was accompanied by letters of support from the Pope County Quorum Court and Pope County Judge Ben Cross.

Arkansas voters in 2018 passed a statewide ballot referendum to allow casinos in Crittenden, Garland, Jefferson, and Pope counties. The measure was designed to grant the Southland and Oaklawn racino racetracks to become full-fledged casinos with slot machines, table games, and sports betting.

The referendum additionally created two from-the-ground-up casino opportunities in Jefferson and Pope Counties, with the latter county requiring its casino to be within two miles of Russellville. For the Jefferson and Pope casino licenses, the referendum required that applicants “furnish a letter of support from the county judge or a resolution from the county quorum court in the county where the casino would be located.”

Gulfside Unqualified?

ARC voted Wednesday night to dismiss Gulfside from further consideration, as the River Valley proposal didn’t meet the criteria of having Cross’ support or an endorsement resolution from the Pope County Quorum Court.

Gulfside was given a chance to present its project to the quorum court last week, but the justices voted 7-5 against issuing River Valley a support resolution.

Gulfside reps said Thursday they’re weighing their options. The odds, however, suggest the Pope County casino license saga is nearing completion almost six years after the gaming concession was authorized.

With Legends the only qualifying bid, ARC will now begin the process of reviewing the casino resort plan. That process begins with an outside consultant who will review the application.

Cherokee Nation Entertainment has also been asked to present its project scope to ARC during a June 27 meeting. After the presentation, each commissioner will grade the casino resort outline on a 1-100 score.

Grading Scandal

ARC’s grading component is what first took the Pope County casino license into court. Four years ago this month, ARC voted on the Gulfside and Cherokee casino plans.

Then-Commissioner Butch Rice singlehandedly tipped the vote in Gulfside’s favor when he graded the River Valley scheme a perfect 100/100 while giving the Legends plan only 29/100 points. ARC had initially planned to award Gulfside the license before the Cherokees threatened a lawsuit on claims that Rice’s “so wildly divergent” scoring showed “a bias.” Rice’s fellow commissioners later concluded that Rice indeed had a bias in his grading.

The commission then decided to award the Legends plan the license, and that’s when Gulfside sued the state.

The legal matter extended to whether a former county judge qualified to issue a letter of support, as the River Valley plan was submitted with a letter of support from former Pope County Judge Tim Fox. State courts ruled that only support from the sitting judge qualified.

In a separate case that reached the Arkansas Supreme Court, it was also determined that the Cherokee’s initial application violated bidding rules because they applied as a partnership with a newly formed entity called Legends Resort& Casino, LLC, instead of a single entity. The Cherokees remedied that concern with its most recent bid by applying solely as Cherokee Nation Entertainment.