\n Posted on: August 30, 2025, 05:25h.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
\n Last updated on: August 29, 2025, 03:26h.\n <\/p>\n
![\"Avatar](\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-50x50.png\")
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n- \n
- Another court decision has gone against a casino in Pope County<\/strong><\/li>\n
- A federal judge says an Arkansas referendum in 2024 was legitimate<\/strong><\/li>\n
- The Cherokee Nation could appeal<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
A federal judge says a statewide amendment to the Arkansas Constitution approved last November was legally binding and did not violate a commercial gaming company\u2019s rights under the United States Constitution.<\/span><\/p>\n
![\"Arkansas](\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shutterstock_2223133701-858x572.jpg\")
The Arkansas state flag. After years of legal disputes, it appears Arkansas\u2019 Pope County will not get a casino after all, though the Cherokee Nation could appeal the latest federal ruling. (Image: Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Last November, Arkansas voters passed Issue 2 with 56% support, an amendment to the state constitution that said the Arkansas Racing Commission (ARC) can only consider commercial casino licenses for counties where local referendums field majority support for slot machines, table games, and sports betting. Issue 2 additionally repealed the gaming license that ARC awarded to Cherokee Nation Entertainment in 2024. CNE had planned to build a $325 million destination called Legends Resort & Casino in Russellville.<\/span><\/p>\n
CNE, a subsidiary of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma\u2019s commercial conglomerate, Cherokee Nation Businesses, sued the state of Arkansas<\/a> and the Racing Commission on allegations that Issue 2 violated its rights under the U.S. Constitution.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nIn an order signed Aug. 28, Judge D.P. Marshall Jr. in Arkansas\u2019 Eastern District Court ruled in favor of the state and dismissed the Cherokees\u2019 claims that Issue 2 \u201cimpermissibly\u201d interfered with its Economic Development Agreement it previously executed with Pope County. Marshall also said CNE\u2019s claim that its \u201cBill of Attainder Clause\u201d rights under the U.S. Constitution were unjust because Issue 2 did not call out the Cherokees by name, but only \u201cany casino license issued for Pope County.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cEven if [Issue 2] did single out CNE, it doesn\u2019t punish the Cherokee under the historical test for a bill of attainder,\u201d Marshall wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n
Long Backstory<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
During the 2018 election, Arkansas voters authorized a casino in each of the counties of Pope, Crittenden, Garland, and Jefferson. However, Pope was one of only 11 counties among the 64 that did not vote in favor of allowing casinos to come to the Razorback State.<\/span><\/p>\n
Jefferson partnered with the Quapaw Nation of Oklahoma to open Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff. The racinos in Crittenden and Garland \u2014 Southland and Oaklawn \u2014 transitioned into full-fledged casinos.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nPope County was the lone county with a competitive bid, as an entity called Gulfside Casino Partnership, based in Mississippi, sought the opportunity to build a casino in Russellville. Endless legal wranglings, initiated by ARC itself when a commissioner was found to have had a bias in his grading of the competing proposals, tabled the gaming license for years.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
A subsequent legal challenge came over how ARC qualified bids, and whether a former county judge\u2019s support for a casino carried the same weight as the sitting judge. It was ultimately decided, with the assistance of the Arkansas attorney general\u2019s office, that the Cherokees were the only qualified bid, as it had the support of both Pope County Judge Ben Cross and a majority of the Pope County Quorum Court.<\/span><\/p>\n
A rival tribe of the Cherokees \u2014 the Choctaw Nation \u2014 subsequently funded Issue 4 to repeal the Pope County license. The Choctaws operate tribal casinos just across the state line in Oklahoma and rely strongly on the northwest Arkansas market.<\/span><\/p>\n
$60M Loss<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
- A federal judge says an Arkansas referendum in 2024 was legitimate<\/strong><\/li>\n