For the Nov. 3 ballot

Arkansas: private group promotes addition of 16 casino licenses

The Arkansas Racing Commission already has authorized three casino licenses under a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2018, the Arkansas Online reports.
2020-06-09
Reading time 3:11 min
The Arkansas Wins In 2020 committee is supporting a proposed constitutional amendment that would authorize the issue of casino licenses to 16 private companies across the state.

Under the constitutional amendment proposed by the private group or the Nov. 3 ballot, the gambling regulator would authorize casino licenses to 16 private companies across the state.

The Arkansas Racing Commission already has authorized three casino licenses under a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2018, the Arkansas Online reports.

Arkansas Wins In 2020 Inc.'s chairman and treasurer, Tom Stone referred questions from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette over the past week and a half about the proposal to attorney Todd Wooten of the Dover, Dixon and Horne law firm in Little Rock.

"We have no comment at this time," Wooten said Tuesday in an email.

The questions ranged from why this proposal would be good for the state, estimates of about how much state tax revenue it would generate, who is financing the committee's campaign and whether the committee has concerns its signature-gathering campaign could lead to the spread of the coronavirus.

Wooten said Friday, "We will have a news conference in the future at the appropriate time. As of now, we have no comment."

Sponsors of proposed constitutional amendments are required to collect 89,151 signatures of registered voters by July 3 to qualify their measures for the Nov. 3 general election, according to the secretary of state's office. The process of gathering signatures has been complicated by the coronavirus pandemic and the need to limit contact with others.

A federal judge has ruled in a case involving a different ballot proposal that groups behind such proposals are allowed to accept mailed-in petition signatures while a final ruling in a case on the matter is pending.

U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes issued an order May 25 in Fayetteville in a lawsuit challenging the signature-gathering process. His order was made in a case involving a proposed constitutional amendment that would change the way congressional and legislative districts are redrawn based on information from the U.S. Census.

Holmes ruled that requiring a petition to be signed in the presence of a canvasser and that the canvasser must sign an affidavit in the presence of a notary public that all signatures were personally witnessed by the canvasser violated free-speech rights.

The Arkansas Wins proposal has surfaced more than a year and a half after the Driving Arkansas Forward ballot committee won voter approval in November 2018 for what is now Amendment 100 to the Arkansas Constitution.

The Arkansas Wins committee filed a statement of organization with the Arkansas Ethics Commission on May 20, according to the commission's website. If the committee raised or spent more than $500 in May, the committee will be required to file a financial report on its contributions and expenses by June 15 under the commission's rules.

Amendment 100 authorizes the Racing Commission to issue licenses for full-fledged casinos to what is now called Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs and Southland Casino Racing in West Memphis and a casino license apiece in Jefferson and Pope counties, and allow for sports betting at the casinos. 

The Driving Arkansas Forward and It's Our Turn committees reported spending about $9.7 million to promote approval of Amendment 100. The spending was largely financed by the Quapaw Nation's Downstream Development Authority in Oklahoma, Cherokee Nation Businesses in Oklahoma and Southland's parent company, New York-based Delaware North.

The Racing Commission granted the Jefferson County casino license to the Downstream Development Authority of the Quapaw Nation in June and then transferred the license to Saracen Development LLC in October.

The commission is considering proposals from Gulfside Casino Partnership of Mississippi and the Cherokee Nation Businesses for the Pope County casino license.

The Arkansas Wins In 2020 proposal, which wouldn't affect the four casinos allowed in Amendment 100, would authorize the Racing Commission to issue licenses in the following counties to be owned by the following companies.

• One license in Benton County, G-First Ark Gaming LLC.

• One license in Boone County, Boone County Gaming LLC.

• One license in Chicot County, Lake Village Gaming Associates LLC.

• Two licenses in Crittenden County, one each for West Memphis 1 Gaming Associates LLC and West Memphis 2 Gaming Associates LLC.

• One license in Garland County, Garland County Gaming Associates LLC.

• One license in Greene County, ASC Transaction Facility LLC.

• One license in Jefferson County, Pine Bluff Gaming Associates LLC.

• One license in Johnson County, Clarksville Gaming Associates LLC.

• One license in in Miller County, Texarkana Gaming Associates LLC.

• One license in Nevada County, Prescott Gaming Associates LLC.

• Two licenses in Pulaski County, one each for Little Rock 1 Gaming Associates LLC and Little Rock 2 Gaming Associates LLC.

• One license in Sebastian County, Fort Smith Gaming Associates LLC.

• One license in St. Francis County, Forrest City Gaming LLC.

• One license in Washington County, Fayetteville Gaming Associates Inc

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