Arkansas Casino Gaming Limited to Four Named Sites

Amendment 100, ratified by voters in 2018 and codified in the Arkansas Racing Commission's Casino Gaming Rules, caps casino gaming at four licenses statewide. Two are grandfathered: the Commission "shall issue a casino license...to a franchise holder located in Crittenden County" for a casino "at or adjacent to the franchise holder's greyhound racing track and gaming facility as of December 31, 2017" (Southland), and the same for the Garland County horse-racing franchise holder (Oaklawn), under 23 CAR Section 358-204(a)(1)-(2).

The other two are competitively awarded. Section 358-204(a)(3)-(4) requires the Commission to award one license for "a casino to be located in Pope County within two (2) miles of the city limits of the county seat" and one for Jefferson County under the identical two-mile standard. Non-franchise applicants for those two counties face extra gates under Section 358-206: they must "demonstrate experience conducting casino gaming" and submit "either a letter of support from the county judge or a resolution from the quorum court," plus a mayor's letter of support if the site sits within a city or town. Every letter or resolution must be "dated and signed by the county judge, quorum court members, or mayor holding office at the time of the submission." No entity may hold more than one casino license in Arkansas.

That local-veto structure produced years of litigation and a reversal at the ballot box: after the Commission awarded the Pope County license to a Cherokee Nation Entertainment-backed applicant, Arkansas voters passed Issue 2 in November 2024, repealing that license and adding a requirement that any future Pope County casino win countywide voter approval before the Commission can act. Outside these four sites, there is no path to a casino license anywhere else in the state.

Operating casino gaming outside these four licensed sites is unlicensed gambling, prosecutable under Arkansas's general gambling statutes rather than as a zoning infraction. A Pope or Jefferson County application missing the county judge's or quorum court's letter of support, or the mayor's letter where required, is incomplete and cannot be awarded a license. The Commission may revoke a license or decline renewal, which reopens a new 30-day application window under Section 358-205.