Casino, lottery scholarship ballot issues simple

By STEVE BRAWNER

Elections can be complicated. This year’s two proposed constitutional amendments aren’t.

The more high-profile one is Issue 2, which was initiated by citizens who collected signatures to qualify for the ballot. It would do two things. First, it would revoke Pope County’s casino license. Second, it would require all future licenses approved by voters statewide to be subject to a following special election in the county where the casino would be located.

The initiative is coming six years after Arkansans voted to allow the Arkansas Racing Commission to approve four licenses – one each in Garland, Crittenden, Jefferson and Pope Counties.

The first three casinos have long since opened at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Southland Casino Hotel in West Memphis, and Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff.

But while 54% of voters statewide approved the casino amendment in 2018, 61% of Pope County residents voted against it. Majorities in those other three counties voted for it.

Garland and Crittenden counties are no strangers to gambling as the homes of the state’s horse and dog racing tracks. (Greyhounds no longer race in West Memphis.) Both facilities basically had casinos for years; they just didn’t have anyone dealing cards until the 2018 amendment passed.

The Racing Commission awarded the license in Pope County to Cherokee Nation Entertainment in July after a protracted legal battle. The planned $300 million Legends Resort Casino in Russellville would include a 50,000-square-foot casino along with a hotel, event space, outdoor waterpark and outdoor entertainment venue. The campaign says it will create 1,000 jobs and have an economic impact of $5 billion over 10 years.

Some Pope County residents actively have opposed the casino since that 2018 election. The group backing the amendment, Local Voters in Charge, argues that a county’s residents should be the final judge about whether a casino should be located in their backyard.

Meanwhile, some local residents do support the casino, including County Judge Ben Cross. He originally opposed it but has become an outspoken convert.

The issue pits two casino-operating Native American tribes against each other. Local Voters in Charge’s $8.8 million in campaign funding has come from the Choctaws, who operate eight casinos in neighboring Oklahoma and tried unsuccessfully to win the Pope County license. The Cherokees, meanwhile, have donated $11.6 million to Investing in Arkansas, the committee seeking to keep their casino.

A Talk Business & Politics-Hendrix College poll of 696 likely voters in September found that 42% favored Issue 2 while 28% were opposed and 30% were undecided. (https://talkbusiness.net/2024/09/poll-arkansas-ballot-issue-support-ranges/) Surely that undecided percentage has fallen since then.

The election comes down to two questions. First, how do voters feel about casinos and the economic/tax benefits and recreational opportunities they can create versus the social ills they can worsen? And second, regardless of the answer to that question, how do voters feel about the local control issue? The second question is the basis for Local Voters in Charge’s campaign.

The other proposed amendment on the ballot, Issue 1, is even simpler. Referred to voters by legislators, it would make state lottery-funded scholarships available to students attending private and public vocational-technical schools and technical institutes. Currently, those scholarships go only to students attending private and public two-year and four-year colleges and universities.

If passed, the amendment would make scholarships available for vo-tech students learning to be welders, truck drivers, certified nursing assistants, etc. Lottery scholarships currently can be used to learn those skills at two-year and four-year schools. This would broaden the pool to include vo-techs, which don’t have to be accredited.

In the Talk Business & Politics-Hendrix College poll, 86% said they supported Issue 1, while 5% were opposed and 9% were undecided. There is not much of a campaign either for or against it.

The Cooperative Extension Service every two years produces a nonpartisan, down-the-middle voter guide summarizing proposed amendments. I referenced it when writing this column. You can download the guide at https://www.uaex.uada.edu.

Regardless of how voters do their research, it should not be hard to cast an informed vote on these two proposed amendments.

Voters only have to remember this: A vote for Issue 2 is a vote against the casino, while a vote against Issue 2 is a vote for the casino.

It is a little confusing, I guess, but it’s not complicated.

Steve Brawner is a syndicated columnist published in 17 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com.