Arkansas
Arkansas judge strikes down Cherokee Nation’s license for new casino
An Arkansas choose voided a state panel’s resolution to permit the Cherokee Nation to construct a on line casino within the state, ruling on Thursday that the license was issued in violation of the state’s structure.
Pulaski County Circuit Decide Tim Fox struck down the license issued in 2021 to Cherokee Nation Companies, and Legends Resort and On line casino — the corporate arrange by the Cherokee Nation — to construct a on line casino in Pope County.
Pope County was one in all 4 websites the place casinos had been allowed to be constructed below a constitutional modification that voters authorised in 2018. Casinos have already been arrange within the different three places, however the Pope County license has been tied up in ongoing authorized battles.
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Fox dominated that the state Racing Fee didn’t have the authority to problem a license collectively to Legends and Cherokee Nation Companies. He additionally dominated that Legends was not eligible for a license because it did not have prior on line casino expertise.
A Pulaski County, Arkansas, circuit choose voided a license issued to the Cherokee nation permitting them to assemble and function a on line casino.
Cherokee Nation Companies stated it deliberate to enchantment the ruling, and that development has not but begun on the on line casino.
“Whereas the circuit court docket’s ruling is disappointing, within the curiosity of ahead progress, we’re happy to have a choice,” Chuck Garrett, CEO of Cherokee Nation Companies, stated in an announcement. “We stay assured in our authorized place and can transfer rapidly to have our enchantment heard by the Arkansas Supreme Courtroom.”
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Mississippi-based Gulfside On line casino Partnership, a competing applicant, had filed the lawsuit difficult the license.
“Gulfside stays dedicated to constructing a first-class leisure vacation spot in Pope County and bringing good-paying jobs and financial growth to Arkansas, and this ruling that Legends was not certified is a step in that path,” Lucas Rowan, lawyer for Gulfside, stated in an announcement.
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Gulfside had been issued a license for the on line casino in 2020, however that license was voided after the state Supreme Courtroom stated it wanted to have the endorsement of present elected officers within the space. The Gulfside software had been submitted with the backing of Pope County’s former choose.