Pope County Casino Lawsuit Moves to Federal Court in Arkansas

Posted on: July 23, 2024, 08:23h. 

Last updated on: July 23, 2024, 09:38h.

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

The Pope County casino saga has moved to federal court in Arkansas.

Pope casino Arkansas Cherokee Gulfside
Pope County Judge Ben Cross is accused in a federal lawsuit of using coercive tactics to make sure only a casino bid from Cherokee Nation Entertainment would qualify for licensure. The plaintiff in the case is Gulfside Casino Partnership, which failed to secure a support letter from Cross or the Pope County Quorum Court. (Image: Pope County Judge Ben Cross)

Last month, the Arkansas Racing Commission (ARC) deemed Cherokee Nation Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, the sole qualified bidder for the casino license earmarked for Pope County. The Cherokees are subsequently moving forward with finalizing plans for a $300 million destination called Legends Resort & Casino in Russellville.

The losing bidder, Mississippi-based Gulfside Casino Partnership, contends that county officials used coercive tactics to handpick the winner and circumvent ARC’s power to decide which bid was best suited for licensure.

Gulfside earlier this month filed a lawsuit in Arkansas’ Pulaski County Circuit Court on allegations that Pope County Judge Ben Cross and the Pope County Quorum Court strong-armed the bidding round by conspiring to make sure that its application would be deemed incomplete because it wasn’t complemented by a letter of support from Cross or a resolution of support from a majority of the county quorum court. 

Collusion Allegations

Soon after Gulfside filed its lawsuit, attorneys representing the Cherokees’ interests petitioned to have the case moved to federal court.

Bart Calhoun, a lawyer with McDaniel Wolff in Little Rock, said the request is warranted because federal law says “district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions where the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $75,000, exclusive of interest and costs, and is between … citizens of different states.”

Arkansas’ Eastern District federal court accepted the case and assigned it to District Judge Lee Rudofsky.

In the latest court filings, Gulfside presents what it believes to be evidence demonstrating that Cross and a majority of the Pope County Quorum Court orchestrated a scheme to ensure that only the Cherokee casino would qualify for ARC consideration.

The 2018 ballot referendum that statewide voters approved to authorize from-the-ground-up casinos in Jefferson and Pope counties requires that ARC only consider applicants that “furnish a letter of support from the county judge or a resolution from the county quorum court in the county where the casino would be located.”

Churchill Communications 

Gulfside attorneys argue in the lawsuit that the 2018 constitutional amendment didn’t limit county judges or quorum courts to lending only a single support letter or resolution. The lawsuit includes exhibits from Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI), the Kentucky-based horse racetrack and casino operator that had expressed interest in bidding for the Pope County gaming concession.

In a letter dated June 11 from Churchill Downs’ Corporate Development Senior VP Jason Sauer to ARC Chair Alex Lieblong, Sauer says Cross told the company it wouldn’t receive a judicial support letter.

We had multiple meetings with local officials in an attempt to satisfy the Local Support Requirement,” Sauer wrote Lieblong. “While CDI enjoyed productive and cordial engagement with several members of the Pope County Quorum Court, Judge Ben Cross provided immediate and explicit clarity at our first in-person meeting on Nov. 30, 2023, that we were ‘wasting [our] time.'”

Sauer said Cross told the company that “neither he nor a majority of the Quorum Court was willing to consider any applicant other than the Cherokees regardless of what another applicant or proposal could bring to Pope County.”