Arkansas casino gets pushed back

A state Senator has addressed Johnson County officials to delay new casino plans to replace a would-have-been venue in Pope County.

US.- A potential Cherokee Tribe gaming venue in Arkansas is facing a major delay after state Senator Ron Caldwell, who chairs the Senate State Agencies Committee, wrote Johnson County officials to stall potential solutions for a new casino. The facility would’ve been developed in Pope County, but a series of votes rejected it and its only hope was to move to Johnson.

The whole casino push was fired up by Amendment 100, which aims to establish four casinos in the state, including one in Pope County. However, local opposition and a further reaction by Sen. Caldwell seem to have complicated the gaming venue’s future.

According to the state lawmaker, only voters can amend the Constitution. “(…) I wish to inform you that the General Assembly does not have the power to amend the Constitution and should not seek to claw away the power from voters by passing an amendment to Amendment 100 (or any other Amendments to the 1874 Constitution) with the intent of creating an issue for the Supreme Court,” he wrote.

Senator Breanne Davis had also introduced a proposal to make it clear that Jefferson or Pope counties must be locally approved through the quorum court members, county judge or mayor in office at the time an application is made for a licence.

“Sen. Davis’s legislation sets out to codify the proposed application rules from the Racing Commission, which I support,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette in an e-mail and added that, should the bill reach his desk, he’ll sign it.