Arkansas Casino Referendum Campaign Spending Tops $30M

Posted on: November 1, 2024, 01:05h. 

Last updated on: November 1, 2024, 02:19h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

The Arkansas casino referendum seeking to repeal a gaming license for Pope County has resulted in unprecedented campaign spending.

Arkansas casino referendum Issue 2 Pope County
A yard sign encouraging Arkansas voters to vote against Issue 2. The 2024 gaming referendum is seeking to repeal a casino license for Pope County. (Image: The Sentinel-Record)

Issue 2 would amend the Arkansas Constitution to only allow the Arkansas Racing Commission (ARC) to issue gaming licenses to counties where a local referendum expressing support for a casino is realized.

A simple majority vote in Issue 2’s favor would rescind a casino license granted in June to Cherokee Nation Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, for a $300 million development in Russellville.

Per the latest campaign finance discloses made with Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston’s office ahead of the November 5 election, spending on Issue 2 has set a state record for a ballot referendum. The two sides of Issue 2 have collectively poured over $30.9 million into their respective fights. 

Record Spending 

The pro-Issue 2 campaign — Local Voters in Charge — has been bankrolled by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. It’s presumed that the tribe is spending big in neighboring Arkansas to try and protect its tribal casino interests in Eastern Oklahoma.

Local Voters in Charge has raised $17.7 million, all of it coming from the Choctaws. The money was used to canvass voters and submit far more than the needed 90,704 voter signatures to put the gaming referendum before voters. The bankroll is also paying for billboards, television commercials, print materials, and social media campaigns.

On the other side, the Cherokees are also spending big to keep the Pope County casino that it’s been pursuing for almost six years. Between 2018 and this June, the Cherokees spent millions of dollars in the tribe’s successful legal defense of being the only qualified bidder for the Pope license.

The Choctaw’s raising of Issue 2 forced the Cherokees to spend millions more. The Cherokees have subsidized the committee called Investing in Arkansas, which is urging voters to vote against Issue 2.

Investing in Arkansas collected $12.5 million from the Cherokees to market its Issue 2 opposition. The Cherokees also funded the Arkansas Canvassing Compliance Committee to the tune of almost $777K. That committee led an unsuccessful legal fight challenging the canvassing procedures of Local Voters in Charge.

Earlier this month, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled against the Cherokees’ allegations that Local Voters in Charge violated state canvassing rules and the ballot wording and language of Issue 2.

If Issue 2 is defeated, the Cherokees would be cleared to begin construction on Legends Resort & Casino. The blueprint calls for a 50K-square-foot casino floor with 1,200 slots, 32 table games, and a sportsbook. The resort would include 200 hotel rooms, numerous restaurants and bars, a full-service spa, 15K square feet of meeting facilities, a resort pool, and an outdoor music venue.

The project is expected to create more than 2,100 direct and indirect jobs and deliver a 10-year economic impact of $5 billion.

2024 Trumps 2018

The 2024 casino question before voters in Arkansas has garnered considerably more campaign money than the 2018 statewide ballot referendum that authorized one casino each in the counties of Pope, Jefferson, Crittenden, and Garland.

The 2018 referendum was led by the Cherokees, the Quapaw Tribe’s Downstream Development Authority, and Southland owner Delaware North. The entities spent about $9 million on the campaign.

The opposition to the casino push was led by religious institutions, which raised less than $160K for its fight to keep Las Vegas-style casinos out of Arkansas.