Gulfside filed a lawsuit on the Racing Commission’s decision to deny their appeal of the rejection of their application for a casino license in Pope County and asked the circuit court for an injunction barring the commission from awarding a casino license until the legal challenge has been resolved.
“Gulfside is the only Pope County applicant that timely complied with every requirement of Amendment 100,” Casey Castleberry, Gulfside’s attorney said in a statement. “We are disappointed by the Racing Commission’s decision, but believe we have a strong case to appeal its denial during the judicial process. When we receive the license, we look forward to building our first-class resort and fulfilling our commitment to be a strong partner to the River Valley.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, August 15, 2019
(Note: as of 3-15-2020, no injunction was ever issued in the Gulfside case. MpG)
From Casino.org
The Mississippi-based company filed its lawsuit swiftly in the Pulaski County Circuit Court after the commission denied its appeal to reconsider its application on Thursday afternoon.
On Thursday, the Racing Commission officially reopened the bidding process, giving applicants 90 days to resubmit proposals. Although if it’s true that county officials have already made up their minds, it’s unclear how many bidders will plow further time and resources into trying to obtain backing that is unlikely to materialize.
Meanwhile, Gulfside is seeking an injunction from the courts that would prohibit the commission from approving any license before its case has been resolved.
Material is from Facebook posts on August 17, 2019
Selected comments:
- The lawsuit argues the commission does not have the authority to define the minimum qualifications for a license, and their rejection of the Gulfside application was unconstitutional.
From Amendment 100: “The Arkansas Racing Commission shall adopt rules necessary to carry out the purposes of this Amendment and perform its duties under this Amendment.” - And the US is taking our 1st and second amendments away what makes you think they even care about pope county
- So far as the AR Racing Commission rules, “they” don’t need to care about Pope County to write and implement rules within the bounds of the Amendment.