The Gulfside application had been submitted with the backing of Pope County’s former judge. Gulfside had been issued a license for the casino in 2020, but that license was voided after the state Supreme Court said it needed to have the endorsement of current elected officials in the area. “Gulfside remains committed to building a first-class entertainment destination in Pope County and bringing good-paying jobs and economic development to Arkansas, and this ruling that Legends was not qualified is a step in that direction,” Lucas Rowan, attorney for Gulfside, said in a statement.
Mississippi-based Gulfside Casino Partnership, a competing applicant, had filed the lawsuit challenging the license. “We remain confident in our legal position and will move quickly to have our appeal heard by the Arkansas Supreme Court.” Cherokee Nation Businesses, one of the applicants seeking to build a casino in Pope County, was busy this week trying to clear obstacles in the award of a license, by seeking the dismissal of one. “While the circuit court’s ruling is disappointing, in the interest of forward progress, we are pleased to have a decision,” Chuck Garrett, CEO of Cherokee Nation Businesses, said in a statement.
