Arkansas Supreme Court docket Guidelines In opposition to Cherokee, Legends On line casino
In a 5-2 ruling, the Arkansas Supreme Court docket has upheld a decrease court docket’s determination that the Arkansas Racing Fee issuing a business gaming license to the Cherokee Nation Companies and Legends Resort and On line casino, LLC, ran afoul of state legislation.
The Arkansas Supreme Court docket has dominated {that a} decrease court docket choose was appropriate in figuring out that the dad or mum entities behind a proposed on line casino known as Legends weren’t certified to obtain a state-issued gaming license. The choice returns the gaming concession earmarked for Pope County to the Arkansas Racing Fee. (Picture: Legends Resort and On line casino, LLC)
The Arkansas Racing Fee (ARC) fielded two bids for the gaming license in Pope County made obtainable by a statewide poll referendum in 2018.
The Cherokee Nation Companies (CNB), the business unit of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, partnered with Legends Hospitality, a stadium concessions operator partly owned by billionaire Arkansas native Jerry Jones. The 2 events fashioned Legends Resort and On line casino, LLC, with plans to construct a $225 million vacation spot in Russellville north of I-40 on Nob Hill Rd.
ARC additionally fielded a on line casino bid for Pope County from Gulfside On line casino Partnership, an entity managed by Mississippi riverboat on line casino pioneers Terry Inexperienced and Rick Carter.
After a scoring controversy amongst ARC commissioners relating to the 2 on line casino bids resulted in Commissioner Butch Rice being excused, the state racing fee, in session with Arkansas Legal professional Common Leslie Rutledge’s workplace, deemed the CNB/Legends plan the winner. That’s when Gulfside appealed the ruling on a number of claims.
District Court docket Ruling Upheld
Gulfside attorneys alleged that the CNB/Legends pitch wasn’t certified for ARC’s consideration as a result of it violated circumstances of the 2018 gaming legislation and its bidding tips.
The plaintiffs argued that Modification 100 permits solely a single entity to use for the on line casino license, and CNB and Legends Hospitality, LLC, “are two separate and distinct authorized entities.” Gulfside attorneys additionally efficiently argued that Legends has no gaming expertise, and Modification 100 particularly states that solely candidates who can “show expertise in conducting on line casino gaming” ought to qualify.
In January, Pulaski County Circuit Decide Tim Fox sided with Gulfside in its enchantment of the license being issued to CNB/Legends. That put the Legends Resort & On line casino undertaking on maintain.
Majority Ruling
Attorneys for CNB/Legends appealed Fox’s ruling to the state supreme court docket. The 5 justices within the majority decided that Fox was appropriate in agreeing that ARC erred in issuing the Pope County on line casino license to Legends.
The language of the modification is … unambiguous. It supplies for one license to be awarded to one entity for one on line casino,” the bulk wrote. “‘On line casino applicant’ is singular — not plural. Nowhere within the textual content does it enable for joint or twin licensing to multiple applicant. The circuit court docket was appropriate find that the award of the Pope County on line casino license to each Legends and CNB violated Modification 100.”
Casey Castleberry, an lawyer for Gulfside, celebrated the ruling.
“Simply because the Racing Fee chosen our superior software in 2020 in a head-to-head with Legends, we sit up for demonstrating once more to county leaders and residents how our proposed world-class resort will profit them and the complete state,” Castleberry mentioned.
Chuck Garrett, CEO of Cherokee Nation Companies, issued On line casino.org an announcement that learn:
“We’re disenchanted by the choice handed down by the Arkansas Supreme Court docket. Having the categorical assist of the incumbent county choose, many different native officers and the group, we stay dedicated to incomes the privilege of being the operator of alternative for a on line casino in Pope County. We will probably be able to show our 30-plus years of expertise in gaming and hospitality as soon as the Arkansas Racing Fee and the Arkansas Legal professional Common’s workplace decide the subsequent step in fulfilling Modification 100. We now have already bought greater than 325 acres in Russellville, and our constructing and design groups have completed as a lot work as potential to make sure development can start rapidly. We’re totally dedicated to transferring ahead and dealing with native and state officers as we now have been for the previous 5 years to construct Legends Resort & On line casino and convey the much-needed financial development the group and state deserve.”
Future Unknown
The Arkansas Supreme Court docket ruling terminates CNB/Legends being the Pope County on line casino winner and concludes Gulfside’s quest to have the license rescinded. How the Racing Fee will proceed isn’t clear.
The three different gaming licenses licensed in 2018 are already in use. The referendum allowed the Oaklawn and Southland racinos to transition and develop into full-fledged Las Vegas-like casinos. The opposite gaming concession was for a from-the-ground-up undertaking in Jefferson County, just like the one in Pope.
Jefferson County partnered with the Quapaw Nation of Oklahoma. The tribe opened its $350 million Saracen On line casino Resort in Pine Bluff in October 2020.
