Quapaw Nation to celebrate new Saracen Casino Resort on August 5 in Arkansas

The Quapaw Nation will host a groundbreaking ceremony for its commercial casino in Arkansas on August 5. The $350 million Saracen Casino Resort will be located on a 345-acre site in Pine Bluff in Jefferson County. 

The Quapaw people historically lived in eastern and southern Arkansas before they were forcibly relocated to Oklahoma in the 1830s. The development is named in honor of Chief Saracen, who was laid to rest in the city in 1832 at the age of 97.

“This reminds me of how excited and proud we were 12 years ago breaking ground for Downstream, and what that meant for Joplin and the surrounding region,” said John L. Berrey, chairman of the Quapaw Nation and of the Downstream Development Authority and Saracen Casino Development, in a statement. “Saracen Casino will be a lot like Downstream in terms of style, design and luxury, and in what we think it will do for Pine Bluff. But also, building Saracen Casino is a homecoming for the Quapaw people. That’s where we lived. It is where the great Chief Saracen is buried. So this is a very special for us.”

The chief's name is also going up on the Saracen Annex Q-Store, a 20,000-square-foot convenience store located across the street from the casino site and that will open in the ceremony, The Joplin Globe reported. The tribe purchased the existing business and will reopen it with additional 300 electronic gaming machines on August 5.

The casino is expected to open in the spring of 2020. Construction is expected to create about 1,000 jobs, and the tribe plans to hire about 1,100 permanent employees. The development will span 570,000 square feet on 110 acres of developed land. More than 2,000 slot machines and 50 table games will be dispersed throughout 80,000 square feet of the gaming floor. 

The hotel portion will feature 300 rooms, a conference center, entertainment venue, spa, restaurants and lounges, as well as a museum and cultural center. The grounds will also feature amenities such as a health clinic, safety and fire services, and a child learning center and day care.

Voters in Arkansas approved gaming at four locations, including one in Jefferson County, through passage of Issue 4 on the November 2018 ballot. The tribe was a primary backer of the initiative. 

The tribe operates two Indian gaming facilities in Oklahoma — the Quapaw Casino in Miami, and the Downstream Casino Resort near the Oklahoma/Missouri line. Downstream also extends into the neighboring states of Kansas and Missouri but gaming does not currently occur on those portions of the property.