Faith-Driven Anti-Casino Group in Arkansas Succeeds in Blocking Casino
The anti-casino measure led by church leaders was funded almost entirely by another casino interest.
A group of faith-driven leaders have succeeded in blocking a casino from moving into their county in Arkansas.
On August 28, U.S. District Judge D.P. Marshall in the Eastern District of Arkansas dismissed the Cherokee Nation’s claims that a constitutional amendment passed last year interfered with its contracts, violated the takings clause, and was an impermissible bill of attainder.
Casino photo by Kaysha, Unsplash, Creative Commons / Inserts: First Baptist Church Russellville, Choctaw Nation, Larry Walker
Earlier this year, MinistryWatch reported about the “strange bedfellows” of an anti-gambling group led by church leaders and their Choctaw allies who teamed up to stop a casino from locating in Pope County, Arkansas.
In 2018, Arkansas approved an amendment to the state constitution allowing casino gambling in four counties: Crittenden, Garland, Pope, and Jefferson. However, some Pope County residents strongly opposed gambling and tried multiple times to reverse the decision.
The Cherokee Nation sought a license for the Pope County casino and engaged in lengthy legal battles trying to get it. In June 2024, it secured the casino license.
While the Cherokee Nation was working to secure its casino license, an anti-gambling group known as Local Voters in Charge was working to pass a constitutional amendment to remove Pope County as an authorized location for casinos. The amendment would also require future casino licenses to be approved by voters in the county where it would be located. The measure to block the casino — known both as Issue 2 and Amendment 104 — passed in November 2024.
Access to MinistryWatch content is free. However, we hope you will support our work with your prayers and financial gifts. To make a donation, click here.
Leaders at First Baptist Church in Russellville, including Administrative Pastor Larry Walker and Deacon Jim Knight, were active in the fight opposing a casino in Pope County.
According to a finance document filed Oct. 29, 2024, with the Arkansas Ethics Commission, Local Voters in Charge received $17.7 million from the Choctaw Nation during 2024 as it campaigned for the new amendment to stop Pope County casinos.
The Choctaw Nation casino in Pocola, Okla., straddles the Oklahoma/Arkansas state line. It had a lot to lose — about $12 million annually — from the competition of another nearby casino, according to the Cherokee Nation’s federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Issue 2.
After the constitutional amendment passed, the Cherokee Nation filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the measure based on the contract clause, takings clause, and bill of attainder clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Judge Marshall found that while the economic development agreement and real estate deals were contracts, they were not “impaired” as required by the contracts clause. For example, while the land that the Cherokee Nation purchased may now have a reduced value as a result of the Pope County measure blocking the casino, the judge wrote, “[T]he Cherokee took a calculated business risk” in purchasing the land ahead of time.
He also dismissed the Cherokee Nation’s takings clause claim because while it may have had a plausible property interest in the casino license, it should have sought just compensation from the Arkansas State Claims Commission and the General Assembly.
Regarding the bill of attainder claim, Marshall found that the Issue 2 constitutional amendment did not single out the Cherokee Nation for punishment. The measure “wholly eliminated casino gaming in Pope County, and necessarily revoked any casino license issued there between March 2024 and November 2024. A state law ‘is not made an attainder by the fact that the activity it regulates is described with such particularity that, in probability, few organizations will fall within its purview.’”
In reaction to the court’s decision, Local Voters in Charge said, “On behalf of the voters of Arkansas that supported and passed Amendment 104 last year, the Local Voters in Charge committee is grateful for the opinion handed down by Judge Marshall last week, affirming the provisions of Amendment 104. This decision should stand as a caution to powerful gambling industry interests that would attempt to bypass voter control of casino development in Arkansas, especially voter control in the local communities most affected by the presence of casinos.”
TO OUR READERS: The mission of MinistryWatch is to help Christian donors become more faithful stewards of the resources God has entrusted to them. Do you know of a story that will help us fulfill our mission, or do you want to give us feedback about this or any other story? If so, please email us at [email protected].
