The Arkansas casino referendum campaign seeking to repeal the gaming license recently issued for a project in Pope County’s Russellville reported raising $2.8 million last month.
The fight over a possible commercial casino in Arkansas’ Russellville is expected to culminate with the 2024 election. Officials with a campaign seeking to repeal the Pope County casino license believe they have enough signatures needed to place the referendum question before voters.
Local Voters in Charge submitted more than 162K signatures to Thurston’s office. The state secretary’s staff is now undergoing to tedious process of validating the signatures, which involves comparing the canvassed signature with the voter’s signature on record.
If Thurston validates a minimum of 90,705 registered voter signatures, with representation from at least 50 counties, the casino question will reach the November ballot.
If a simple majority backs the question, ARC would need to rescind the Pope gaming license allocated to Cherokee Nation Entertainment until a local referendum in the county regarding the casino is held.
The Cherokees have proposed investing $300 million to build Legends Resort & Casino in Russellville. A bid that was deemed unqualified because it did not come with a letter of support from Pope County Judge Ben Cross or a resolution of support from the Pope County Quorum Court this week filed a lawsuit on allegations that Cross and the quorum court used coercive tactics to make sure only the Cherokee plan qualified.
Cherokee Plan
The Arkansas casino referendum is just another component of the ongoing legal saga surrounding the Pope County gaming concession.
ARC recently ruled that its latest bidding round for the license fielded only one qualified bid. It came from Cherokee Nation Entertainment, a commercial entity owned by the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma.
