Issue 2 passes in Arkansas

Arkansas – Issue 2, which revoked the Pope County casino license and required a special election for any future casinos in the county where they would be located, was approved in Arkansas on Wednesday morning.

Late Tuesday night, Hans Stiritz of the pro-Issue 2 organization Local Voters in Charge (LVIC) said, “The numbers look great and we hope they hold up.”

The figures did hold up for Stiritz and LVIC, which received funding from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

97% of Arkansans reported voting in favor of Issue 2 as of Wednesday afternoon, with the vote being roughly 56-44.

“The state constitution now stipulates that a new casino license must be confirmed by a local election before that project can proceed,” Stiritz explained.

Judge Ben Cross of Pope County, who has been an outspoken advocate for casinos, argued that although the issue was approved statewide, Pope County rejected it by the same 56-44 vote.

According to him, that demonstrates Pope County’s desire for the Legends Resort and Casino.

Judge Cross remarked, “The irony is that the opposing side wanted a local vote.” “And tonight’s local vote revealed that the people of Pope County wanted this resort to open here.”

If Pope County still wants a casino, so what?

Following the passage of Issue 2, Arkansas Racing Commission spokesman Scott Hardin described the steps involved in this process.

“First, a casino organization or business would need to work to get it on the ballot. Thus, in order to successfully get it on the ballot, they would need to gather all the necessary signatures,” Hardin explained. “The ballot initiative would then need to be approved by Arkansans in a statewide vote. Third, you would vote as a county to approve or reject the proposed casino if it was located in your county.

According to Hardin, the wording of the original amendment establishing the new license would determine what would happen if voters in the state approved a casino license but local voters rejected it.

According to Hardin, “that ballot initiative would be the end of it if they worded it so that this is the only county where it’s going to be located.” “If someone were to pursue it, I would assume they would leave it open-ended so that if one county didn’t want it, perhaps another would.”
Could this process, which aims to expand Arkansas’s current three casinos, start soon? According to Hardin, it is unlikely.

We are not referring to a straightforward procedure where counties now declare, “Hey, let’s think about whether or not we want a casino. “To get it on the ballot, pass it, and then see if a county wants it, we’re going to need to see a big initiative in the next election,” he stated. “To be completely honest, given the amount of opposition to a fourth casino that we have witnessed, I am going to be extremely shocked if the state has more than three casinos in five or six years.”
Nevertheless, it appears that Cherokee Nation Businesses, the owners of the proposed casino, are not giving up.

“Though this outcome alters our immediate path, we will continue to defend our investment and protect the license we fairly earned and were afforded through the constitution,” company CEO Chuck Garrett wrote in a statement.

Now that Issue 2 has been resolved, Stiritz said he feels secure in the system and his organization was prepared for any future casino-related adjustments.

“In the end, we want our voices to be heard,” Stiritz stated. And local voters will decide that. Therefore, we’ll handle whatever comes up later.