{"id":18885,"date":"2016-09-19T12:30:05","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T20:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=18885"},"modified":"2016-09-19T12:32:40","modified_gmt":"2016-09-19T20:32:40","slug":"arkansas-casino-proposal-hotly-contested-straub-gains-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/arkansas-casino-proposal-hotly-contested-straub-gains-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Arkansas casino proposal hotly contested; Straub gains support"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although a ballot initiative to legalize casinos in three Arkansas<\/strong> counties could draw some gambling dollars away from Oklahoma<\/strong>, that hasn’t stopped a Sooner State tribe from supporting it<\/a>. Cherokee Nation Businesses<\/strong> has ponied up $400,000 to support \"Flag_of_Arkansas.svg\"the ballot question. What’s in it for them? Management of the northwesternmost casino, which would siphon business away from the Branson<\/strong>, Missouri<\/strong> area. (Branson businessman Marc Williams<\/strong> is also a campaign backer.) Arkansas Winning Initiative<\/strong>, as the campaign is called, is hotly opposed by the state’s horse tracks, which have VLTs, to the tune of a hundred grand.\u00a0Gov. Asa Hutchinson<\/strong>, a casino opponent, is also trying to tip the scales<\/a> against Arkansas Winning Initiative. He’s appointed failed congressional candidate Warren Dupwe<\/strong> to hear a case that would remove Initiative 5 from the November ballot. Dupwe replaces Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson<\/strong>, who has recused herself due to her personal connections with the state’s horseracing industry.\u00a0Oaklawn Racing &\u00a0Gaming<\/strong> in Hot Springs<\/strong> and Southland Park Gaming &\u00a0Racing<\/strong> in West Memphis<\/strong> are challenging the validity of many of the signatures on the Initiative 5 petitions. Goodson isn’t the first special master to fall by the wayside in the Initiative 5 case: First\u00a0Judicial Circuit Judge Bentley Story<\/strong> removed himself a day after being appointed, because his daughter-in-law works for Oaklawn. The horsey set seems to have its tendrils deeply implanted in the Arkansas establishment.<\/p>\n

* Speaking of politics, in Pennsylvania<\/strong> the prospect of Internet<\/strong> gambling is fading down the stretch, with a tough row to hoe<\/a> in the 2017 Legislature.<\/p>\n

* Glenn Straub<\/strong> has gained an ally<\/a> in the form of Atlantic City<\/strong> Councilman Kaleem \"revel_0601\"Shabazz<\/strong>. The latter has asked the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority<\/strong> to ease up on its landscaping demands of Straub as the latter tries to reopen Revel, even as the 2016 window of opportunity is closing. According to TV station WHYY<\/strong> in Philadelphia<\/strong>, “Shabazz said the city needs jobs, revenue and activity, and, while he appreciates the need to follow regulations, he hopes an accommodation can be made for Revel development.” Straub’s people have chafed at a lack of support from the political establishment (other than Mayor Don Guardian<\/strong> [R]), so Shabazz’s intervention will surely be gladly received.<\/p>\n

* The specter\u00a0of rejected Cedar Crossing Casino<\/strong> continues to bedevil\u00a0the Iowa<\/strong> city of Cedar Rapids<\/strong>. Although Wild Rose Entertainment<\/strong>, which owns three other casinos in the Hawkeye State, wants to build a $40 million casino (no hotel, no restaurants — it would sit across the street from a Double Tree Hotel & Convention Center<\/strong>) in Cedar Rapids, it is being thwarted by a pair of memoranda of understanding<\/a> between the city and Cedar Crossing parent Cedar Rapids Development Group<\/strong>. \u201cThe city will not enter into negotiations or execute or approve any agreement with any other person, firm or organization or operator, nor will the city make application to or otherwise support an application for a gaming license before the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission<\/strong> within Linn County<\/strong>, Iowa with any third party other than in cooperation with company and non-profit,\u201d is some of the relevant verbiage. Worse still, the agreement with the City of Cedar Rapids runs into late 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people put risk, capital, time and energy to put together a proposal, engage engineers, architects and construction companies, required to put forward an excellent big project,\u201d said Linn County Supervisor Brent Oleson<\/strong>, in defense of the memoranda. Cedar Crossing was ultimately nixed by the IRGC\u00a0for the negative economic impact it would have on nearby casinos. Such issues are irrelevant to Wild Rose for the moment. Executives for the latter claim to be unfazed by the revelation of the memoranda. Wild Rose CEO Tom Timmons<\/strong> said the company wouldn’t go anywhere it wasn’t welcome adding, \u201cIf it can\u2019t be worked out, it can\u2019t be worked out. But we hope people will look at the end result. If we have a chance to bring a casino here \u2014 and I don\u2019t think that same plan is going to work \u2014 what way do you go if it would mean it\u2019s for the best of the city?\u201d<\/p>\n

CRDG\u00a0investor Tami Culver<\/strong> claimed to have been ambushed by Wild Rose. \u201cThat would have been respectful to have some kind of knowledge about it,\u201d she sputtered. For now, the IRGC is staying on the sidelines, waiting to see what Cedar Rapids voters have to say. City or county support would be nice but not essential. Mayor Ron Corbett<\/strong> is standing by the memoranda and urging Wild Rose to find some way to reach its goal by cooperating with the CRDG. Given the latter’s umbrage at being denied Cedar Crossing, how promising an avenue is that?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although a ballot initiative to legalize casinos in three Arkansas counties could draw some gambling dollars away from Oklahoma, that hasn’t stopped a Sooner State tribe from supporting it. Cherokee Nation Businesses has ponied up $400,000 to support the ballot … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[179,23,185,67,37,86,39,115,95,33,111,25,157,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18885"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18885"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18890,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18885\/revisions\/18890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}