Cherokee Nation Reapplies for Casino Permission to Arkansas Racing Authority
The Arkansas Racing Commission (ARC) received its second and possibly final bid for the commercial casino license it intends to assign in Pope County this year. Gulfside Casino Partnership, a company from Mississippi, revealed their $405 million plan for a project called River Valley Casino Resort just a few days ago. State gaming officials have now announced the first qualified submission.
This comes from Cherokee Nation Entertainment, a subsidiary of Cherokee Nation Businesses, the commercial conglomerate of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. Cherokee Nation Entertainment submitted an updated proposal for a casino resort in Russellville on Wednesday.
Chuck Garrett, CEO of Cherokee Nation Entertainment, stated in a press release, "For the past five years, we've been preparing for this extraordinary, ready-to-build commercial casino resort and integrating into the local community."
In an updated proposal dubbed Legends Resort & Casino, Cherokee Nation Entertainment wants to invest more than $300 million in a project that includes a 50,000-square-foot gaming area with 1,200 slots, 32 live dealer table games, a poker room, and a sportsbook. Facilities would also include a 200-room hotel, a resort-style pool, a luxury spa, meeting and conference space, live entertainment, and several restaurants and bars.
A Matter of Nominative Determinism
In 2021, ARC awarded the Pope County casino license to the Legends developers. However, an appeal lodged by Gulfside disputed whether the Cherokee proposal violated state bidding regulations. The Arkansas Supreme Court determined that the Cherokees had broken these rules because they had applied as a partnership. In their previous application in 2023, Cherokee Nation Businesses and a recently formed subsidiary called Legends Resort & Casino, LLC, were listed as the developers.
The state bidding guidelines stipulate that applicants must submit as single entities and not as partnerships or consortiums, and they must demonstrate gaming experience. Legends Resort & Casino, LLC did not meet this condition.
For the third Pope County bidding round, the Cherokees submitted their application as one entity under the name Cherokee Nation Entertainment, which is the parent company to the tribe's Oklahoma casinos.
Judicial Approval
In accordance with the ARC application conditions prescribed by a 2018 alteration to the Arkansas Constitution, which authorized a casino in each of Crittenden, Garland, Jefferson, and Pope counties, bids must be accompanied by a letter of support from the county's current judge or quorum court. At present, only the Cherokee plan has received this endorsement from Pope County Judge Ben Cross and a majority of the Pope County Quorum Court in favour of the Legends project.
Garrett added, "We're grateful for the approval by Pope County leaders, the acquisition of 325 acres of land, and the obtained Large-Scale Development permit from the City of Russellville. Now that the application has been submitted, we're ecstatic to share our ideas and vast experience with the Arkansas Racing Commission and obtain the state's last casino license."
To move forward, Gulfside will submit a request to the Pope County Quorum Court for a second letter of support later today. If a simple majority isn't supported on the 13-judge quorum court, only the Legends bid will be considered by the state gaming regulatory agency and settle the Pope County casino license debate after nearly six years.
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