Arkansas: Pope County casino license bidder asks court to rule on its lawsuit

Mississippi-based Gulfside Casino Partnership, one of the operators hoping to apply for a Pope County casino license in Arkansas, filed a request last week in Pulaski County Circuit Court for a summary judgment approving its application and rejecting those of its rivals, with Circuit Judge Tim Fox making a decision without holding a trial.

A casino in Pope County was authorized by Amendment 100 to the Arkansas Constitution, passed by state voters in 2018. The amendment requires endorsement by local elected officials in order for the Racing Commission to approve a casino license. Gulfside argues that its application was the only one of five proposals to properly include such letters of endorsement — although the leaders who did so left office in 2018.

The nearly 60 pages of documents filed in the case Tuesday included an email from Racing Commission attorney Byron Freeland saying a last-minute change to a proposed casino-related rule — which basically invalidated Gulfside Casino Partnership's application — was done after consulting with Gov. Asa Hutchinson's office and other state officials, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. "Gulfside's position is well supported by law," said Lucas Rowan, attorney for Gulfside. "We look forward to presenting our case."

River Valley Casino Resort is Gulfside's proposal for Pope County.

The only group that applied with the necessary endorsement of current local elected officials in Pope County was a proposal from the Cherokee tribe. However, that approval came after the designated application period under the commission’s rules, leading a judge in a different Pulaski County Circuit Court case to issue a temporary restraining order blocking the commission from approving the Cherokees. The tribe has since re-submitted its proposal, for a $225 million casino, hotel and water park, under a different provision in the commission’s rules in an attempt to pass legal muster.

The Cherokees gained the approval of County Judge Ben Cross and the Quorum Court after promising $38 million in payments to various governments in the county, despite an ordinance that such an action required approval of county voters. That pay to play arrangement with the Cherokees, a special prosecutor concluded, was negotiated in a series of surreptitious meetings in violation of the Freedom of Information Act, but no charges were filed, according to Arkansas Times.

Gulfside’s filing last Tuesday notes that under the original rules of the Racing Commission, endorsements of local officials were valid so long as they came after the amendment allowing the casinos was passed in November 2018 —the amendment itself doesn’t specify. Gulfside secured endorsements from the previous county judge, as well as the previous mayor of Russellville, in late December 2018, in the final days of their terms.

Almost immediately after that, the commission changed the protocol, establishing a new rule in January of last year demanding that the endorsing local officials had to still be in office when the casino applications were submitted to the commission. The state legislature meanwhile passed a law in March establishing the same requirement.

Gulfside, which sued the commission in August, argues that the new rules unconstitutionally impose an additional requirement that is not contained in Amendment 100 passed by voters. The case is set for a hearing March 30.