Group submits signatures in bid to repeal casino approval in Pope County, Arkansas

A group has presented more than 103,000 signatures from residents against the gaming venue.

US.- Fair Play Arkansas, a group financed by the Choctaw Tribe, has claimed that it has gathered the required number of signatures to force a vote on its proposal to repeal part of a casino gambling amendment voters approved in 2018. The group wants to remove Pope County as one of the counties where a casino is allowed in Arkansas.

The group said it submitted more than 103,000 signatures ahead of Friday’s deadline, more than the 89,151 needed to get a proposal on the November ballot. The Arkansas Secretary of State will determine if the signatures are valid.

Hans Stiritz, a spokesperson for Fair Play Arkansas, said it was “extremely grateful for the support” from state-wide voters.

In 2018, Arkansas voters approved amending the state constitution to permit one casino each in the counties of Pope, Jefferson, Garland, and Crittenden. The measure was largely funded by the Cherokee Nation Businesses (CNB), a wholly owned conglomerate of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, and the Downstream Development Authority of the Quapaw Tribe, also of Oklahoma.

The proposed $225m Cherokee Nation Pope County casino resort would have 1,100 slot machines, 32 table games and 200 hotel rooms located near Russellville, northwest of Little Rock, the state capital, in northwest Arkansas.