40 legislators join election's anti-casino side

Loss of local control, proximity to UA cited for opposing amendment ballot bid

Forty state lawmakers have joined the efforts of a committee fighting a proposed constitutional amendment that would authorize three casinos in Arkansas' southwest and northwest, the group said Monday.

The lawmakers include 29 Republicans, 10 Democrats and an independent, state Rep. Nate Bell of Mena, according to a list released by committee spokesman Joel Coon. The 24 representatives and 16 senators are backing the Committee to Protect Arkansas' Values/Stop Casinos Now.

These lawmakers include Senate President Pro Tempore Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy; Senate Democratic leader Keith Ingram of West Memphis; a Legislative Council co-chairman, Sen. Bill Sample, R-Hot Springs; and Rep. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville.

Oaklawn Racing and Gaming in Hot Springs and Southland Park Gaming and Racing in West Memphis support the committee's efforts against the proposed amendment, said committee Chairman Chuck Lange.

The casinos would be operated in Boone County by Arkansas Gaming and Resorts LLC, in Miller County by Miller County Gaming LLC, and in Washington County by Washington County Gaming LLC, their respective successors or to whomever they assign their licenses, under the proposed amendment promoted by Arkansas Wins in 2016 and Arkansas Winning Initiative Inc.

The owners of the three limited liability companies are Jim Thompson of Blue Eye, Mo., about 2 miles north of the Arkansas state line, and Bob Womack of Branson, said Robert Coon, a spokesman for Arkansas Winning Initiative Inc. and Arkansas Wins in 2016. Cherokee Nation Entertainment will be involved in the proposed casino, hotel and entertainment complex in Washington County if voters approve the amendment.

While state law doesn't allow for stand-alone casinos, it permits electronic "games of skill" at Oaklawn and Southland. Gambling at those facilities is subject to regulation by the Arkansas Racing Commission.

Leding said he opposes the proposed amendment because it would carve "out a special place for private enterprise in our state constitution, not providing any kind of check on that power ... of these businessman, [and] we also would be stripping away local control.

"As a state representative who represents the state's flagship university, the idea that it would allow a 24-hour casino with 24-hour alcohol sales to go on the back steps of the state's flagship university is just a very bad idea," Leding said at a news conference at the state Capitol.

Sample said the electronic games of skill at Oaklawn were authorized by local voters under the 2005 state law opening the door for these games, but this year's proposed amendment includes "no legislative approval, no local control.

"Just because there is electronic games of skill in Hot Springs doesn't mean we have a monopoly on gambling in the state of Arkansas," he said.

"If you talk to the people down in Miller County, they will tell you about the people that drive down to Shreveport and the people that drive over to Tunica [Mississippi]," Sample said.

Afterward, Robert Coon of the pro-amendment effort said some people are opposed to gambling and "we understand that and we respect that.

"But it is also fair to say that Oaklawn and Southland have been around for a long time and they've made a lot of friends," he said when asked about the list of 40 state lawmakers opposing the proposed amendment.

"I think members of the Legislature that are opposed to this, I think they will be excited when Issue 5 passes," Robert Coon said.

"We expect that it will raise more money and tax dollars for the state of Arkansas than the existing facilities in Hot Springs and West Memphis. For one reason, we are going to be able to offer the games that Arkansans and people from other states that want to play. I think that's part of their real concern is the competition aspect of this," he said.

"As to local control, these casinos can't just pop down whenever where they want. They will be regulated by zoning rules just as other companies ... in these counties," Robert Coon said.

The proposed amendment would define casino gambling as including any game, device or type of wagering permitted at a casino operated within Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee or Texas as of Nov. 8 or "as subsequently permitted hereafter."

The state collected $58.3 million in general-revenue taxes from electronic games of skill and horse and dog racing at Oaklawn and Southland in fiscal 2016, which ended June 30. Those collections are up from $42.4 million in fiscal 2014 and $49.9 million in fiscal 2015, according to the state Department of Finance and Administration's records.

The records show that of the fiscal 2016 total, $34.9 million came from electronic games of skill at Southland; $20.8 million from electronic games at Oaklawn; about $1.6 million from horse racing at Oaklawn; and about $850,000 from dog racing at Southland.

At the news conference, Lange said the proposed amendment would give "these people permission to do whatever they want to do with their LLCs.

"What if a guy gets run out of Vegas, he's a bad actor ... and he's got a lot of money, he comes to Arkansas and gets a hold of one of these guys and he buys that permit?"

Robert Coon said the proposed amendment creates the Arkansas Gaming Commission, appointed by the governor to oversee and regulate the casinos under law enacted by the Legislature.

He said, "We want all facilities to be run by reputable firms in the gaming industry and that's what we are going to continue to do.

"The existing gaming monopoly is rooted in a constitutional protection. There is a constitutional protection for a racetrack in Hot Springs, Garland County, Arkansas," Robert Coon said. "They supplemented that control with statutory authority in the Arkansas law in order to define electronic games of skill. They are completely hypocritical when they are attacking this proposal for having very similar aspects that they themselves operate under."

Last week, the anti-casino committee asked the state Supreme Court to declare the ballot title of the proposed amendment to be insufficient and enjoin Secretary of State Mark Martin from placing it on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. The group also asked the court to declare that the sponsors of the proposed amendment failed to submit sufficient valid signatures of registered voters to place the proposal on the general election ballot.

The state Supreme Court on Friday appointed retired Circuit Judge Bentley Story of Forrest City to serve as a master to consider challenges to the signatures and file a report with the court by Sept. 28.

But Story wrote in a letter dated Saturday to Chief Justice Howard Brill that he learned Friday night of a potential conflict of interest. His daughter-in-law, Amanda Story, is a lobbyist for Hargraves Consulting, which does work for Oaklawn Racing.

"Because of that connection, I feel I must recuse. I was unaware of this at the time I accepted the appointment," Story wrote in his letter to Brill.

In addition to allowing gambling at the racetracks, the state operates a lottery to raise money for college scholarships.

Amendment 87 to the Arkansas Constitution -- enacted by voters in 2008 -- authorized the Legislature to create a lottery to raise net proceeds for college scholarships.

The lottery started selling tickets on Sept. 28, 2009, and has helped fund more than 30,000 Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarships each of the past six fiscal years.

A Section on 09/13/2016

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