The Arkansas Racing Commission voted unanimously Thursday to award the Pope County casino license to Cherokee Nation Entertainment.

Pope County Judge Ben Cross called it a “definitive moment” in a process that’s taken roughly six years.

The vote came after the commission scored CNE’s application, the only one that went before the group of seven men.

Cherokee’s only other serious competition for the license, Mississippi-based Gulfside Casino Partnership, fell out after its application was not accepted for being “incomplete.” It was considered that because their bid did not receive the approval of Cross and the Pope County Quorum Court last month.

“We’re looking eagerly with anticipation of construction commencing, hopefully before the end of the year,” Cross said. “We know that this is a shovel-ready project at this point. And we’re looking forward to the economic development that is going to be derived from it.”

Commission Chairman Alex Lieblong said the vote “will help salve some wounds” from a saga that began in 2018 and has involved multiple licenses being issued and court decisions.

Lieblong joked after the meeting that he had “lost count” of the number of times the committee had issued a license for Pope County.

v“I’ve lost track of courtrooms,” added Lieblong, who was “relieved for everybody” that this stage of the process is over.

“It has to be hard on people in Pope County, because you had some very strong feelings (of people who don’t want a casino), and another group that did.

“One problem I have with the amendment, years ago when we got instant gaming approved it had to be approved by the state, the county and the city that the casino’s in,” Lieblong said. “So this time (in 2018), it was a statewide election and the counties that they mentioned, they didn’t have to pass it. I’ve always looked at it, that’s like saying ‘we’re gonna put a nuclear dump site in Faulkner County, only we (the county) don’t get to vote on it.’ I don’t mean to compare them to a nuclear dump site, either.”

Chuck Garrett, CEO of the Oklahoma-based casino operator, said receiving the license was an “honor” and the company would view it as a “responsibility.”

After a long process to get to Thursday’s decision, “we’re terribly excited to deliver a great project for the people of Pope County and the River Valley.”

The scoring metric for Cherokee’s application consisted of four criterion that in all totaled 700 points. The company received a score of 651.

On “experience conducting casino gaming,” the company was given 195 out of 200 points.

For its timeline for opening the casino, it got 63 of 70 possible points.

For “proof of financial stability,” 203 of 210 points were awarded.

And for its proposal of the casino, including a hotel and other amenities, it was given a score of 190 out of 210 points.

CONSTRUCTION TIME

Part of Cherokee’s application included that it estimated that construction of the casino resort would take 18 months on 325 acres northeast of Russellville it has spent the past few years acquiring.

Commissioner Mark Lamberth observed that it was a “stringent” estimate and asked Garrett if that was the norm for a project like the Pope County casino.

“It’s hustling,” Garrett said. “There’s no question about it, it is getting it on. … But we think that’s a realistic time frame.”

During the presentation portion of the meeting, held at the Department of Finance and Administration’s headquarters in Little Rock, Garrett was asked if Cherokee Nation Entertainment would waive its tribal sovereign immunity for the casino project. Garrett said it would. “This is a state jurisdiction license that’s being issued under your jurisdiction in the state of Arkansas,” Garrett said. “The land that we have is not going to be trust land. That will be governed by Pope County and the local municipalities. So we have no jurisdiction and the Cherokee Nation doesn’t have any jurisdiction over any of that in the process. The land operations, that really is outside of the scope of sovereign immunity.”

The next step for them is to finish gathering the proper permits in order to build.

A POTENTIAL OBSTACLE

However, there is one more potential obstacle for the company. A possible constitutional amendment on this November’s election ballot that would modify Amendment 100 so that a casino license could not be given to Pope County.

That involves a proxy war between the Cherokee and Choctaw nations of Oklahoma.

On March 20, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin cleared the way for the Local Voters in Charge ballot committee — which is financed by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma — to begin collecting signatures from registered voters in its effort to qualify its proposed constitutional amendment for the general election ballot.

That committee must submit 90,704 signatures, including signatures from 50 counties, to the secretary of state’s office by July 5 to get the proposed constitutional amendment on the general election ballot in November.

Garrett estimated construction on the casino likely wouldn’t start until mid-November, after a vote on the potential amendment.

“It wasn’t really timed that way, but is somewhat convenient,” Garrett said.

Under the proposed amendment, the Arkansas Racing Commission would no longer be required to issue a casino license in Pope County. The amendment also would require any future casino license to be approved by voters in a countywide election.

“The issuance of a Pope County license by the Arkansas Racing Commission was expected, but not the final word,” said committee spokesperson Hans Stiritz in an emailed statement. “Local Voters in Charge is working hard to ensure that local voters in communities directly affected by a casino will have the final say.

“We’re confident that this fall, Arkansas voters will give local voters, not politicians or bureaucrats, the final say on casinos — not just in Pope County, where local voters opposed a casino by 61%, but in every county across the state.”

Stiritz said the committee would not release numbers on how many signatures it has collected until the deadline next Friday.

“As always, we are grateful for and encouraged by the hard work of our canvassers at bringing this important issue to the voters of Arkansas,” Stiritz said.

Ballot question committees, which are groups created to advocate for or against a ballot measure, are required to register with the Arkansas Ethics Commission and disclose monthly contributions of more than $50 or more, and expenses of $100 or more.

According to its last monthly filing with the Arkansas Ethics Commission, the group had received $2.4 million from the Choctaw Nation as of May 31.

The same filing shows the group has spent $1.3 million, with a majority of that — $1.2 million — spent on “canvassing services.”

Local Voters in Charge has about 675 paid signature gatherers, based on records in the Arkansas secretary of state’s office.

COMPETING COMMITTEE

Likewise, the Cherokee are bankrolling their own ballot question committee over the potential amendment, called Investing in Arkansas.

That group wasn’t formalized until May and is led by Legends Resort and Casino’s Jennifer McGill.

It’s vice chair is Natalie Ghidotti, the CEO of Ghidotti Communications.

“There’s millions, billions of dollars at stake here,” Ghidotti said in an interview on June 12. “My whole thing is I’d rather see it stay in Arkansas. … There’s billions in tax revenue here and lots of jobs.”

On Investing in Arkansas’ latest filing, it reported receiving $775,108 from Cherokee Nation Businesses in May.

It has spent $42,438 in public opinion research, which was used to contract Main Street Analytics in Kansas City to conduct polling in Pope County.

According to its poll, 55.25% of citizens — out of 303 likely general election voters polled via phone — were “strongly” or “somewhat” supportive of the casino project.

When it came to opposition, 39.82% “strongly” or “somewhat” were against it. Almost five percent had no opinion.

Investing in Arkansas also spent $20,000 in radio advertising, $100,000 in TV ads and $20,000 in online marketing.

The group has a website that includes a portal where people can submit “evidence” that canvassers for Local Voters in Charge are “lying” about the casino ballot initiative.

“Part of what we’re doing is just ensuring compliance with the laws and rules around ballot signature collection,” Garrett said of its ballot question committee. “So we we are wanting everyone to play by the rules is primarily what that’s all about.”

Of the possibility that voters could revoke the opportunity for his county to get a casino, Cross is skeptical.

“I don’t want to go off into hypotheticals, but I just don’t see the state of Arkansas reversing an amendment that the voters of the state of Arkansas put into place,” Cross said.

Information for this story was provided by Mike Wickline of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.