It should have been a simple process in Arkansas. An idea for casino expansion is pitched, approved by legislators and voters and casino operators then present their projects in order to seek license approval. Everything seemed to be going well in Pope County until it was time to choose which operator would be given the license. That was the step where, last June, Arkansas Racing Commission (ARC) Commissioner Butch Rice screwed everything up, creating a serious amount of embarrassment that lingers today. Rice had seemed to be less than impartial when he sided with Gulfside Casino Partnership and its project, leading to backlash and a fight by the other candidate, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, as well as his removal from involvement in the casino plans. The ordeal has continued and has now reached the Arkansas Supreme Court, which is giving its support to the Cherokee in the on-going battle.
When members of the ARC gave their scores for the two casino proposals, it was blatantly obvious that Rice never seriously considered the Cherokee’s project, giving it a score so low that everyone knew something was fishy. That led to a complaint by the Cherokee, through its Cherokee Nation Business (CNB) arm, and the voting process was thrown out. An independent third party was brought in to make the decision, which didn’t sit well with Gulfside and the debacle continued.
Gulfside tried to plead its case in front of an Arkansas court judge, but lost. That, in theory, would have allowed the independent review and selection process to move forward, but the judge in that hearing, Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Tim Fox, decided that the CNB, since it had no casino experience, wasn’t qualified to be considered as a possible candidate.
That’s not the end of the dispute, either. Gulfside was brought to task because it, according to some, didn’t follow the rules. By law, any proposal submitted to county governments must show support by a local official. In Gulfside’s case, it had a letter of support from Pope County Judge Jim Ed Gibson, but this caused an issue because, by the time the two casino candidates were being considered last year, Gibson had already vacated his position.