Arkansas is in the midst of a battle over the question of who gets to decide whether new casinos get built and where they should go. Like many states, Arkansas has a blanket constitutional ban on gambling, requiring amendments to allow specific exceptions. Any amendment must be approved in a statewide referendum. However, when it comes to casinos, a group calling itself Local Voters in Charge (LVC) says that residents of the proposed county should get their say in a separate vote. The question of local versus state-level approval for gambling expansion is one with ramifications for the discussion of online casino expansion around the country.
Specifically, LVC wants to see the license revoked for an upcoming casino in Pope County. That would be the state’s fourth.
LVC group has proposed a ballot question for the November general election. If approved, it would amend the state constitution to block the casino’s licensure and require state-level voter approval for any future license.
A second group, the Arkansas Canvassing Compliance Committee (ACCC), formed in response to LVC. It has filed a lawsuit, seeking to have the ballot question thrown out on procedural grounds. Joining it in that effort is Cherokee Nation Entertainment, which holds the Pope County casino license.
In a press release, ACCC alleged that:
LVC violated Arkansas law with its compensation structure, paying bonuses to canvassers based upon the number of signatures obtained.
According to the Arkansas Advocate, a report submitted to the state’s Supreme Court recommended that some of the signatures be thrown out. However, the number isn’t enough to block the question from appearing on the November ballot.
Procedural Counterattacks on Ballot Questions
Arkansas casino expansion began in 2018 with Amendment 100. That was the same year the US Supreme Court struck down PASPA, the federal law prohibiting sports betting in 49 states. Amendment 100 expressly included sports betting as a product the new casinos could offer.
It passed narrowly, with only 54% of voters in favor.
Amendment 100 instructed the Arkansas Racing Commission to issue four licenses. Three of those casinos are now up and running in Crittenden, Garland, and Jefferson counties.
If LVC gets its way, the fourth license won’t go to another county. The proposed amendment reduces the number of licenses to three and adds the county voting requirement for any additional licenses in the future.
The ACCC’s attempt to thwart the ballot question isn’t unique. It may have taken inspiration from a similar, successful effort to strike an access-to-abortion proposal from the ballot earlier this year.
Its court case is ongoing, and the report’s recommendations aren’t final. Although it looks like the question will have the necessary support to appear on the ballot, the Supreme Court could still find differently.
Online Gambling is a State-Level Issue
Different states have taken different approaches to casino authorization. Sometimes, state officials decide where casinos will go, and local residents have little say. Yet, what Pope County residents are asking for isn’t unheard of, or even uncommon. Virginia’s 2020 casino bill called for municipal referenda for each of the five casinos it authorized. Four municipalities said yes, but the state is still trying to find a home for the fifth.
It can sometimes be harder to drum up support for a casino locally than it is on a larger scale. The whole state benefits from the tax revenue gambling generates, yet many of the problems it can create are local in nature. On the other hand, the job creation advantages of a new casino are predominantly local as well.
However, the rapid expansion of online gambling in the US adds a different tone to the discussion in 2024 versus 2018.
In 2018, voters approved sports betting only at the retail casinos. However, the state tweaked its rules in 2021, clearing the way for online sportsbooks to launch the following year. Now, at least one of the three retail casinos wants to initiate the discussion of legalizing online casinos.
Online gambling flips the script when it comes to local advantages and disadvantages. When online casino licenses are tethered to a retail property, some of the economic benefits become local. Some states, like Pennsylvania and Michigan, even apply local taxes to online casino revenue. Yet, unlike with retail casinos, the access to gambling and risks associated with that apply statewide.
LVC’s proposed amendment wouldn’t directly impact any hypothetical future online gambling bill. It defines casinos as “an establishment” and references licenses “in the county.” That language is unlikely to apply to entities licensed at the state level and lacking a physical presence.
However, such a change in the constitution would remain in the public’s recent memory. It’s likely that opponents of an online casino bill would leverage that in their arguments, perhaps painting it as an effort to circumvent the spirit of the amendment and allow counties that voted in favor of gambling to force access on counties that voted against it.
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