Pope County Casino Fight Isn’t Over Yet
- Cherokee 411 Staff
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
by Kyle Massey - March 9, 2026, 12:00am
Like rumors of Mark Twain’s demise in the 1890s, last year’s reports that plans for a Cherokee casino in Russellville were dead may have been exaggerated.
But perhaps not greatly.
A unanimous landmark Arkansas Supreme Court ruling in December overturned 74 years of precedent, giving the General Assembly the ability to alter or even repeal voter-approved constitutional amendments.
While critics and supporters of the casino see no overwhelming appetite among lawmakers to seize on the casino as its first objective in flexing its new powers, Little Rock attorney David Couch is appealing for action.
“Yes, the General Assembly could restore that casino to Russellville, and they should,” Couch told Arkansas Business last week.
“The campaign to eliminate it was deceptive, and the people of Pope County voted in favor of keeping the casino. So if (the issue) was truly about ‘Local Voters in Charge,’ they should honor the wishes of the local voters and return the license to the Cherokee.”
Couch is the Newport-raised lawyer who lent a hand to more than a half-dozen citizen-initiated amendments, including the measure that legalized casino gambling in four counties in 2018. He has also represented the Cherokee Nation, which held the rescinded Pope County casino license for years.
The precedent-breaking Supreme Court ruling, in State v. Good Day Farm Arkansas, involved the 2016 amendment that legalized medicinal marijuana.
But it also opened an avenue for lawmakers to revisit Amendment 104, the controversial 2024 measure that revoked the state-issued casino license to Cherokee Nation Entertainment LLC of Catoosa, Oklahoma. The tribe had bought land and invested tens of millions of dollars planning Legends Resort & Casino Resort along Interstate 40.
Lawmakers vs. Voters
The ruling set up an unusual tension between lawmakers and everyday citizens, who for generations had every expectation that amendments they passed could not be changed without another statewide vote by the people.
Since the Supreme Court changed that, explicitly overturning the 1951 ruling in Arkansas Game & Fish Commission v. Edgmon, groups like the League of Women Voters have rallied around the concept that voters should keep the final say.
The 2024 casino revocation amendment drew support from a group of Pope County casino opponents called Local Voters in Charge, armed with $17.7 million in spending from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, which was eager to block a western Arkansas casino and protect patronage at its Choctaw Casino Resort-Pocola, just across the state line from Fort Smith.
Amendment 104 will also require a yes vote from residents in any county where a potential future casino is proposed. The Cherokee Nation spent about $15.7 million trying to defeat the amendment.
Couch, referring to the Choctaw, asked: “Why protect an out-of-state casino that creates no jobs in Arkansas and no tax revenue in Arkansas?”
Couch represented the Cherokee in drafting the casino amendment in 2018 and worked for them again in 2022 when an earlier anti-casino measure was kept off the ballot.
“Then I represented them in 2024 when we challenged the (local control) measure in the Supreme Court and tried to take it off the ballot.”
While voters statewide approved the 2024 amendment 55.8% to 44.2%, Pope County voters rejected it, thus backing the casino.
Legal Issues
The Cherokee sued in federal court over the license revocation and its financial implications.
U.S. District Judge D.P. Marshall Jr. upheld the amendment in August after a bench trial in Little Rock, but conceded that the Cherokee were left with property that was far less valuable.
He also noted that they also lost a casino license that had been valued at more than $100 million, and that the Choctaw had calculated that competition in Russellville might cost its Pocola operation more than $12 million a year.
Casinos in West Memphis, Hot Springs and Pine Bluff recorded record total revenue of more than $742.5 million in 2025, and they paid record state taxes of $116 million last year, up from $110 million.
The Cherokee Nation and Russellville employee Jennifer McGill appealed Marshall’s ruling in January, taking the case to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis. Defendants are the state of Arkansas and the Arkansas Racing Commission, which granted the casino license voided in 2024.
Represented by lawyers from the McDaniel & Wolff law firm of Little Rock and Clement & Murphy of Alexandria, Virginia, they filed a brief saying that the tribe’s 10 casinos make up 40% of profits remitted to the Cherokee Nation each year.
“In 2018, Arkansas legalized casino gaming and authorized the issuance of four casino licenses, one of which it awarded to Appellants after they courted local support and made plans to spend over $225 million to build the casino, along with another $38 million to develop the local economy,” the brief said.
‘An About Face’
But before the gambling resort was built and after substantial irrevocable investments were made, “Arkansas did an about-face,” the filing continued. “Beset by a sophisticated lobbying campaign” orchestrated by the Choctaw, “Arkansas amended its state constitution to revoke Appellants’ — and only Appellants’ — casino license … violating the United States Constitution multiple times over in the process.”
The appeal argues that the district court erroneously dismissed the appellants’ claims, “concluding that several procedural defects doomed them.” The appeal asks the 8th Circuit to “correct that error” and reverse Marshall’s ruling.
The appeal argues that Amendment 104 violated the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by depriving the Cherokee of property rights without compensation, and by taking away the casino license without compensation. CNB also argues that Amendment 104 violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment by subjecting it to disfavored treatment.
Travis Noland, Cherokee Nation Entertainment’s director of communications, described the appeals brief as “an update on our efforts” in a Feb. 25 email. “My understanding is that the State has until the end of March for its response,” he wrote.
Noland didn’t directly address the possibility of legislative intervention to restore the license. But Pope County Judge Ben Cross, a strong supporter of the Cherokees’ plan, said the 8th Circuit appeal is highly unlikely to restore the gaming license.
“This federal appeal is basically centered around the illegal takings clause; it’s not really anything that would result in an immediate reinstatement of the license,” Cross said in a telephone interview. “I think it’s more for … the damages, for the value of the license itself.
“So I don’t know that even a favorable ruling from the 8th Circuit brings the casino back to Pope County. It may bring a whole new light to how this process is done, and it could justifiably bring compensation for losing the license.”
Cross said he’s heard speculation about a legislative path to restore the license, but he doesn’t think “it’s realistically on the radar” of the Legislature. “Maybe down the pike somewhere they may address it, and that would be good, in my opinion.”
It would present a chance to uphold the will of the voters in the counties nearest the proposed casino, “who voted in the manner that they knew would bring a casino to Pope County, by about 60%,” Cross said.
He believes the amendment’s ballot language confused voters in the rest of the state.
“Essentially a yes was a no (for developing the casino) and a no was a yes,” Cross said. “I know that voters here would like to see that taken up, repealing or amending 104. But I’ve not heard any inclination out of our local legislative delegation to address that. The Supreme Court has given them the latitude and authority, but I think you’ll not see it used on that anytime soon.”
Cross and Noland, the CNE spokesman, both confirmed that work still goes on at Legends’ storefront offices at 314 W. B St. in downtown Russellville.
“The doors are open, employees are working, and they’re still active in the community,” Cross said. “They’re still contributing to the community financially,” primarily with food banks. “They’re still here, they’re still active, and they still own all their properties. So, yes, it’s a very active presence.”
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