The Arkansas casino referendum, which sought to remove Pope County’s gambling license, resulted in record campaign spending.
Issue 2 would change the Arkansas Constitution to allow the Arkansas Racing Commission (ARC) to only issue gaming licenses to counties that pass a local referendum in support of a casino.
A simple majority vote in favor of Issue 2 would revoke a casino license given in June to Cherokee Nation Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, for a $300 million construction in Russellville.
The latest campaign finance disclosures filed by Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston’s office ahead of the November 5 election show that spending on Issue 2 has set a state record for a ballot referendum. The two parties of Issue 2 have combined spent nearly $30.9 million on their respective fights.
Record Spending
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma funds the pro-Issue 2 campaign, Local Voters in Charge. It is thought that the tribe is investing heavily in adjacent Arkansas to defend its tribal casino interests in Eastern Oklahoma.
Local Voters in Charge has raised $17.7 million, all of which came from the Choctaws. The funds were utilized to canvass voters and collect significantly more than the required 90,704 voter signatures to place the gaming referendum before voters. The budget also includes funding for billboards, television ads, print materials, and social media initiatives.
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On the other hand, the Cherokees are also paying heavily to maintain the Pope County casino that they have been pursuing for nearly six years. Between 2018 until June, the Cherokees spent millions of dollars on their successful legal defense of being the only qualifying bidder for the Pope license.
The Choctaws’ raising of Issue 2 prompted the Cherokees to spend millions more. The Cherokees have sponsored the Investing in Arkansas organization, which is asking people to vote against Issue 2.
The Cherokees contributed $12.5 million to Investing in Arkansas’ marketing campaign against Issue 2. The Cherokees also contributed about $777,000 to the Arkansas Canvassing Compliance Committee. That committee led an unsuccessful judicial challenge to the canvassing processes of Local Voters in Charge.
Earlier this month, the Arkansas Supreme Court rejected the Cherokees’ claims that Local Voters in Charge violated state canvassing requirements, as well as the ballot wording and text of Issue 2.
If Issue 2 is rejected, the Cherokees will be able to commence work on the Legends Resort and Casino. The plan plans for a 50,000-square-foot casino floor with 1,200 slots, 32 table games, and a sportsbook. The resort would have 200 hotel rooms, multiple restaurants and bars, a full-service spa, 15,000 square feet of meeting space, a resort pool, and an outdoor concert arena.
The project is estimated to create over 2,100 direct and indirect jobs and have a $5 billion economic impact over ten years.
2024 Outperforms 2018
The 2024 casino proposal before Arkansas voters has raised significantly more campaign money than the 2018 statewide ballot referendum, which approved one casino in each of Pope, Jefferson, Crittenden, and Garland counties.
The Cherokees, the Quapaw Tribe’s Downstream Development Authority, and Delaware North, the owner of Southland, led the 2018 referendum. The entities spent approximately $9 million on the campaign.
Religious institutions spearheaded the resistance to the casino movement, raising less than $160,000 to keep Las Vegas-style casinos out of Arkansas.
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