Gulfside says justices should deny Cherokee request

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Supreme Court should deny a request to block a lower-court ruling disqualifying the Cherokee Nation Businesses’ Legends Resort and Casino from obtaining a casino license in Pope County, a competing group urged Monday.

The Mississippi-based Gulfside Casino Partnership, which filed the request with the state’s high court Monday, also is seeking the state’s only license to establish a gaming casino in Pope County.

Gulfside and the Legends are competing for the license before the Arkansas Racing Commission.

Meanwhile, a commission attorney on Monday requested an order from the state’s high court to establish the seven-member commission’s authority over issues of validity and qualification of casino applicants.

At issue is Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox’s July 2 ruling Legends Resort and Casino, which is a limited liability company set up by Cherokee Nation Businesses — doesn’t qualify as an applicant for the Pope County license.

Legends sought to intervene in the Gulfside lawsuit against the commission, but Fox denied the request.

On July 2, Fox also denied Gulfside’s motion for contempt alleging the state commission failed to follow its own rules and should have issued the company a license for the Pope County casino within 30 days of a previous ruling by Fox.

In that previous ruling, Fox validated endorsement letters for Gulfside by former local officials who were no longer in office when the company applied last year for the license.

Applicants are required to have the endorsements under the Amendment 100 to the Arkansas Constitution, approved by voters in November 0f 2018.

It authorized the expansion of race tracks and gambling operations in Hot Springs and West Memphis into full-fledged casinos and the Arkansas Racing Commission to issue one casino license each in Jefferson and Pope counties.

In June 2019, the commission voted to issue the casino license in Jefferson County to the Downstream Development Authority of the Quapaw Nation, then voted in October to transfer that license to Saracen Development, a new company formed by the Quapaws.

On June 18 of this year, the commission signaled its intent to issue the Pope County casino license to Gulfside based on the seven commissioners’ total score.

But the commission on June 22 voted to find that commissioner Butch Rice of Beebe was biased in favor of Gulfside with his score. The commission that same day decided to delay action on how to proceed.

The commission hasn’t set a date for its next meeting, said Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the state Department of Finance and Administration, which includes the commission.

Attorneys for Cherokee Nation Businesses and Legends Casino and Resort on Wednesday asked the state Supreme Court to issue an emergency writ of certiorari vacating Fox’s order, to correct the erroneous proceedings and return the casino application process to the commission.

Alternatively, they asked the state’s high court to stay the proceedings before the commission so a briefing schedule may be issued.

“Without subject matter jurisdiction or even being prompted by any party, the Circuit Court interjected itself into the casino licensure process and declared that Legends does not satisfy Amendment 100 requirements,” said the attorneys for Cherokee Nation Businesses and Legends Resort and Casino.

Attorneys for Gulfside said Monday in their filing with the state Supreme Court that Cherokee Nation Businesses and Legends Resort and Casino are seeking a writ of certiorari to review a factual finding with which they disagree in an effort to circumvent the appeals process.

“This improper use of a writ should not be allowed and the petition for writ of certiorari … should be denied,” the Gulfside attorneys said.

They said that Fox correctly found Cherokee Nation Businesses wasn’t an applicant for the Pope County casino license and Legends Casino and Resort wasn’t a qualified applicant.

The circuit court found Legends didn’t meet the minimum qualifications of Amendment 100 because Legends doesn’t have experience conducting casino gambling as required by Amendment 100, according to Gulfside’s attorneys.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Kat Guest, representing the commission, said Monday in a filing with the state Supreme Court the circuit court “was entirely without subject matter jurisdiction and its orders are without legal authority.”

“To that end, the Arkansas Racing Commission seeks an order from this Court, in exercise of its superintending control over circuit courts, establishing that issues of validity and qualification of casino applicants rest first with the Commission, notwithstanding the Pulaski County Circuit Court’s July 2, 2020 orders,” she wrote.