This week attorneys for the Quapaw Nation of Oklahoma submitted an application to the Arkansas Racing Commission to build a casino in Pine Bluff, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
The Quapaw Nation currently operates casinos in Oklahoma.
Attorneys for the Quapaw Nation drafted Amendment 100 to the Arkansas Constitution. That amendment made a casino in Pine Bluff possible in the first place.
The Quapaw Nation also spent more than $3.7 million putting Amendment 100 on the ballot and passing it in 2018.
We have said before that Amendment 100’s wording favors wealthy casino corporations who are looking to expand their business to Arkansas. Applicants who want to operate a casino in Arkansas must be able to pay $250,000 in application fees and must have experience operating casinos in other states.
Casinos are a blight on the community. Jefferson County already has enough trouble with poverty as it is. Opening a casino in Pine Bluff simply will compound that problem.
