Judge’s casino ruling rouses all sides

LITTLE ROCK — The state Racing Commission has been inundated with letters from each corner of the Pope County casino license debate after a judge ruled last week both a rule and a law setting restrictions on when local officials could endorse the applicants were unconstitutional.

Last week’s ruling from Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox kicked a rejected application from Mississippi casino operator Gulfside Casino Partnership back to the commission to apply the provisions of Amendment 100 and consider the application on its merits.

Gulfside sued the Racing Commission after its application — submitted last year with endorsements from two local officials right before they left office — was rejected along with four other applicants because none contained letters of support from officials in office at the time of the application.

Constitutional Amendment 100 allows a new casino in Pope and Jefferson counties and expansion of gambling at racetracks in Hot Springs and West Memphis.

While the amendment doesn’t stipulate when the endorsements have to be dated or submitted, the commission required endorsements from local officials in office at the time the application is submitted.

Fox ruled last week the rule imposes an additional qualification beyond Amendment 100, rendering it unconstitutional.

Gulfside was the only one of the four applicants to include a letter of endorsement during the first application window.

A second application window for the Pope County license was opened after the county Quorum Court voted to support Cherokee Nation Businesses for the license and Ben Cross, county judge of Pope County, subsequently issued a letter of support for the Cherokees.

That second window was “abandoned” by the commission after Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen barred the commission from issuing a Pope County license.

Cherokee Nation Businesses — which submitted an application without an endorsement during the first window — has asked the commission to consider its application — amended with local support — under a separate rule allowing reconsideration for “good cause shown.”

Gulfside attorney Lucas Rowan said the commission should immediately issue Gulfside the Pope County casino license.

The Racing Commission granted a casino license last summer to the Quapaw Nation to build the proposed $350 million Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff.

Cherokee Nation Businesses countered — in a March 25 letter to the Racing Commission from Cherokee attorney Scott Richardson — Fox’s ruling gave the authority to the commission to deny Gulfside’s application.

Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the state Department of Finance and Administration, said Wednesday a meeting hasn’t been scheduled by the commission to discuss Fox’s ruling. The scheduled meeting for Saturday has been cancelled, but the Pope County casino license wasn’t on the agenda.

No decision has been made of whether the state Attorney

General, who represents the Racing Commission, will appeal Fox’s ruling, Hardin added.

The Racing Commission received numerous email and letters from a wide cross section of the issue, accordng to documents recieved under the Freedom of Information Act.

Ben Cross, county judge of Pope County, in a March 25 letter urged the commission to act quickly in awarding a casino license.

“Our selection of CNB/ Legends as the appropriate vendor Pope County is our final option at having a local say in the matter,” Cross said. “Essentially, the state of Arkansas placed this upon us, please let us have some say in who we are partnered with for decades.”

Some email and letters to the commission were received from those opposed to any casino in Pope County.

“Please, please do not issue license for either casino

in Pope County,” said Russellville resident Glenda Bull, in a March 26 email. “We love our quite [sic] little communities in our county. If a casino is brought in that will all change. Please I pray do not issue a license.”

Nathan Harrison, a Pope County resident, told the commission he was not in favor of any casino in Pope County, but if it is inevitable, the commission should award the license to the “vendor who is willing to work with both the city of Russellville and Pope County.”

“Gulfside and CNB have valid applications, so good cause should not play into any decisions here. Neither should a very short history of CNB being present in Pope County,” Harrison said. “They have poured many dollars into the community to gain followers, not partners. Hosting semi-fancy events and giving away T shirts doesn’t make a partner. Gulfside has not had any local presence aside from the occasional

meeting and phone call to the mayor, council members, QC members, and the judge. These organizations are in business for one reason, to take as much profit as possible from people willing to gamble.”

Dozens of email and letters were submitted from individuals and members of the pro-casino group Pope County Majority, asking the Racing Commission to accept the Cherokee application.

“I want to take the time to point out that the plain language of Amendment 100, as originally written, says that a license is to be granted to a vendor that has ‘a letter of support from THE county judge or county quorum court.’ Today, it was said that your rules are against the plain language and there was some unconstitutionality in denying Gulfside,” said Francis Schlude, a Pope County resident. “As I am certified as an English teacher, the word ‘the’ is a definite article adjective.”