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Arkansas Supreme Court to Soon Rule on Pope County Casino Case

The Arkansas Supreme Court is expected to soon render its decision regarding a referendum seeking to repeal a commercial casino license earmarked for Pope County.

Arkansas Supreme Court Pope casino
The Arkansas Supreme Court will soon decide if a referendum that would repeal a casino in Pope County will go before voters. Two tribes in Oklahoma are behind the legal fight. (Image: Supreme Court of Arkansas)

The state’s high court is slated to rule on an appeal from Cherokee Nation Entertainment challenging Issue 2. The referendum was certified in August by Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston for the Nov. 5 ballot.

The Arkansas Supreme Court agreed to expedite its review of the Cherokee allegations since Nov. 5 is fast approaching. Early voting in Missouri begins two weeks before Election Day.

The next round of briefs are due by Sept. 26, and the court says it will issue its ruling soon after reviewing each side’s claims.

Lawsuit Allegations

In June, Cherokee Nation Entertainment was deemed the winner of the Pope County casino license after it was the only bidder that met the Arkansas Racing Commission’s guidelines that submissions be accompanied by either a letter of support from Pope County Judge Ben Cross or a resolution of support from the Pope County Quorum Court. Pope County was designated for a commercial casino through a statewide referendum in 2018 that authorized gambling in four counties.

However, Pope County voters voted against the 2018 referendum. The county was one of only 11 among the 75 counties in the state that voted against the casino question.

Local Voters in Charge, a campaign funded by the Choctaw Nation, which is seeking to protect its tribal casinos in Eastern Oklahoma, wants to repeal the Pope casino concession. The campaign believes casinos should only be allowed in counties that want them.

The Cherokee Nation alleges that Local Voters in Charge violated a slew of canvassing laws in going about collecting signatures to put the gaming question before voters this fall. Through its own campaign, the Arkansas Canvassing Compliance Committee, the Cherokees allege that Local Voters in Charge paid canvassers based on the number of signatures they collected, provided faulty registration addresses for workers, and didn’t properly certify canvassing captains.

Referendum Likely to Prevail 

Eighth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Randy Wright, the special master appointed to the case to expedite the high court’s review, wrote in his “Report and Findings of Fact” based on the preliminary briefs that much of the plaintiff’s allegations are meritless.

Wright’s review concluded that less than 6,000 signatures that Thurston’s office certified should be disqualified because of canvassing errors. That still leaves the total number of valid signatures at 110,234 — far more than the 90,704 needed to place the referendum on the 2024 ballot.

If the referendum is defeated or rejected by the Arkansas Supreme Court, Cherokee Nation Entertainment would be cleared to proceed with its $300 million project in Russellville called Legends Resort & Casino.

The casino plan calls for a gaming floor measuring 50,000 square feet with 1,200 slot machines, 32 live dealer table games, and a sportsbook. A 200-room hotel would be complemented by several restaurants and bars, 15,000 square feet of meeting and conference space, a resort pool, and an outdoor music venue.

Recent polling reveals that just 42% of likely voters said they’ll vote in favor of Issue 2, while 28% said they would vote against it and 30% were undecided.

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Churchill Downs HHR Facility Planned for Virginia’s Henrico County Faces Criticism

Churchill Downs Inc. is moving forward with opening a gaming venue in Virginia’s Henrico County where historical horse racing (HHR) machines will operate. The project has generated criticism from a local county official.

Churchill Downs Henrico Gaming Virginia
A rendering of Henrico Gaming, a planned historical horse racing gaming venue in Virginia from Churchill Downs, Inc. A local official has criticized the Richmond gaming project for seemingly trying to evade a newly implemented zoning ordinance. (Image: Churchill Downs, Inc.)

Kentucky-based Churchill Downs acquired the Colonial Downs Racetrack, six Rosie’s Gaming Emporium HHR facilities, and five additional HHR opportunities across the commonwealth through its 2022 acquisition of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E). Churchill filed plans on June 18 to renovate a former furniture and mattress store located in the Staples Mill Shopping Center in Richmond into a business called Henrico Gaming.

Henrico Gaming, per the project’s application made with Henrico County, seeks to place 175 HHR machines inside the 25,000-square-foot facility that’s between a Virginia ABC liquor store and a Subway restaurant.

The shopping center, located at Staples Mill Rd. and Glenside Dr., is zoned to allow pari-mutuel wagering, which HHR machines are classified as, but county officials are working to alter the approval process for such gaming by updating zoning rules.

Zoning Ordinance 

The Staples Mill Shopping Center is located within a business district zoned as “B-2.” According to the Henrico County government website, such a business district is intended to provide office space, retail shopping, restaurants, gas stations, and live/work dwellings.

A B-2 zone additionally allows for a company possessing a parimutuel or HHR wagering license to operate such a business. Under Henrico’s current zoning rules, an HHR venue can house up to 175 machines without needing to apply and acquire a provisional-use permit (PUP) from the county.

The Henrico County Board of Supervisors in May initiated proceedings to advance an ordinance that would require a PUP to be obtained for any HHR business within the county regardless of the number of machines. The county supervisors approved the rule change during their June 15 meeting, seven days after Churchill submitted its application for Henrico Gaming.

Supervisor Upset

Following the supervisors’ vote, HHR developments of any number of gaming positions must now underdog a PUP public hearing. However, since the bid was submitted before the ordinance was endorsed by the county supervisors, the Churchill Downs project under county law will be grandfathered from the PUP condition.

Henrico County Supervisor Dan Schmitt, who represents Henrico’s Brookland District where Churchill is planning Henrico Gaming, says the company purposely applied ahead of the zoning change in a move that shows it isn’t committed to being an upstanding community partner. Schmitt said Churchill was trying “to jam this business into the location” before the PUP ordinance was enacted.

These folks of this county weigh in during PUP processes on far less intrusive items, including the hours a store can operate,” Schmitt said during the county supervisors’ meeting earlier this month. “The residents I represent deserve the right to weigh in if there’s going to be a gambling establishment in their neighborhood.”

Schmitt urged Churchill to rescind its application and reapply under the new PUP rules.

“The applicant has the opportunity to show their awareness of what it takes to be a trusted community partner and participate in the public process,” Schmitt declared.

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Missouri Casinos in St. Louis County Retain Smoking After Ordinance Extinguished

Missouri casinos in St. Louis County were facing a potential smoking ban after local government officials motioned to prohibit indoor smoking at the two gaming venues.

Missouri casinos smoking St. Louis County
A smoker puffs on a cigarette while a person in the background covers their face in an attempt to avoid secondhand smoke. Missouri casinos in St. Louis County will continue allowing indoor smoking on certain sections of their gaming floors after local officials decided against an indoor smoking ban. (Image: Adobe Stock)

St. Louis County borders the independent city of St. Louis. The county is home to two commercial casinos, Hollywood Casino St. Louis in Maryland Heights, and River City Casino Lemay. Both properties are operated by Penn Entertainment, which was Penn National Gaming until a year ago this month when the Pennsylvania-based gaming firm underwent a rebranding.

Dr. Kanika Cunningham, the county health department director, encouraged the casino smoking ban to be implemented. Currently, the two casinos can designate up to 30% of their gaming floors for indoor smoking.

Even if there are partial smoking restrictions, there’s no way to allow for smoke-free air,” Cunningham said before the council in May. “The current ventilation systems can reduce the odor but it does not reduce the level of hazardous exposure.”

Officials representing Penn Entertainment took the other side and petitioned the St. Louis County Council to vote against the proposal to eliminate indoor casino smoking. The company argued that such a regulation would place its two Missouri casinos at a competitive disadvantage with casinos elsewhere in the Show-Me State, including casinos in St. Louis proper and East St. Louis, Il.

Penn’s argument resonated, as the County Council shelved the no-smoking ordinance during its Tuesday night meeting.

Hollywood Casino reported to the Missouri Gaming Commission having 685 employees at the end of 2022. River City reported 610 employees.

Patchwork Smoking Regulatory Environment

Missouri lawmakers took a bit of an atypical approach to regulating indoor smoking when they passed the state’s Clean Indoor Air Law in 2002. The statute prohibits indoor tobacco use in most public and private places, including workplaces, most retail and commercial establishments, schools and places of learning, restaurants that don’t derive the majority of their revenue from alcohol or tobacco sales, childcare facilities, and health care facilities.

Exemptions were provided for bars and taverns, bowling alleys, billiard parlors, and gaming venues like casinos. The state law tasked counties and municipalities with determining whether to allow smoking inside those kinds of businesses. The state statute does limit indoor smoking to no more than 30% of the total indoor floor space.

The state law doesn’t require exempt places from offering indoor smoking areas.

Competitive Landscape

Missouri is home to 13 riverboat and land-based casinos, and all remain with indoor smoking sections. Penn’s two properties are among the most successful of the baker’s dozen of casinos.

During the state’s 2023 fiscal year that ended June 30, River City generated gross gaming revenue (GGR) of more than $254.8 million. That ranked second in the state behind only Ameristar Casino Resort St. Charles at $303 million. Penn’s Hollywood Casino ranked third at approximately $243.6 million.

Casinos share 21% of their gross gaming income with the state and, additionally, pay a $2 per person admission tax. River City counted about 4.1 million patrons during the 12-month period, while Hollywood Casino welcomed about 3.7 million guests.

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