Cherokee Nation to Appeal Pope County Casino Ruling to Arkansas Supreme Court
The Cherokee Carry Nation Businesses (CNB) testament invoke a judge’s determination that came lowest Friday rescinding the company’s gaming certify to build and eventually run a casino inward Alexander Pope County.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Charles James Fox ruled that the Arkansas Racing Commission (ARC) erred inwards issuing CNB and Legends Resort & Casino a gaming concession. CNB and Legends require to establish a $225 jillion casino holiday resort in Russellville on a 135-acre situation compass north of I-40 on Nob Alfred Hawthorne Rd.
Pope County is one of 4 counties that qualifies to legion a commercial casino. The authorisation came through and through a 2018 ballot referendum passed by country voters.
The amendment to the Arkansas Constitution granted the state’s deuce raceway racinos — Southland and Oaklawn — permission to suit full-scale casinos with slot machines, tabulate games, and sports betting. The gaming empowerment also allowed for deuce alone new, from-the-ground-up casinos to live reinforced inward Alexander Pope and Thomas Jefferson counties.
More than quaternity years since voters designated Pope County as a permitted cassino jurisdiction, it’s allay unclear as to which entity will find the favor of developing such a gaming resort. The state’s three other casinos feature already opened, including the $350 meg Saracen Casino Resort in Jefferson’s Pine Bluff.
Saga Continues
ARC had no more prior account of dealing with commercial gaming matters before 2018. Previously, the state agency dealt only when with regulating pureblood and greyhound racing.
The agency’s gaming rawness became apace apparent.
The first-class honours degree contestation inward deciding which troupe would have the Alexander Pope County casino license came inwards 2020 when Commissioner Butch Rice was deemed to have had a preconception in grading the deuce competing proposals. Along with CNB, a conjure from an entity called Gulfside Casino Partnership, a Mississippi-based entity that operates the Island View Casino Resort inwards Gulfport, was fielded for Pope
Arkansas racing commissioners determined that Elmer Leopold Rice below the belt ranked the Cherokee contrive a rack up of simply 29/100 patch leveling the Gulfside program a hone 100/100. Rice’s bias singlehandedly tipped the ARC overall scotch inward favour of Gulfside by a summate mark of 637 points for Gulfside to 572 points for CNB/Legends.
ARC sought legal assistance from Arkansas River Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office, which later determined that the CNB program should have got prevailed. ARC afterward deemed the Cherokees the winners for Pope County and approved the Legends Resort & Casino project.
Issuance Error
Gulfside appealed the state’s decision to displace frontward with the Cherokees on grounds that Legends Resort & Casino lacks gaming experience. The say mandated that only firms with gaming have qualify for existence considered for the gaming permit.
Gulfside also argued that the country tin can only if number the license to a single entity, and CNB applied as a partnership with Legends. Charles James Fox agreed with the plaintiffs.
CNB has plentifulness of receive operating tribal casinos inwards its native Oklahoma. But Legends Hospitality, the parent company of the social unit involved inwards the Arkansas River casino venture, is a sports arena and arena hospitality and concessions firm. Legends is partly owned by Arkansas aborigine Jerry Jones.
CNB said that spell it’s disappointed with Fox’s conclusion, the society is happy to have got an reply and proceed with subsiding the effectual affair in the state’s highest court.
“While the circuit court’s ruling is disappointing, inward the interest of forrad progress, we are proud of(p) to have a decision,” said Chuck Garrett, CNB CEO. “We remain confident inward our effectual place and testament relocation speedily to make our appeal heard past the Arkansas Supreme Court.”
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