Fair Play for Arkansas – 2022
has it wrong.
Fair Play for Arkansas
says that
Pope County doesn’t want the casino.
They are wrong!
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They say, “It turns out that Pope County voters don’t want a casino.”
The results of the 2022 Republican preferential primary and a 2022 survey say otherwise.
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Fair Play For Arkansas says, “Gambling interests are desperately trying to bring a casino to Pope County, over the objections of our community.”
Ironically, the only desperate gambling interest in this issue is the one that is backing them.
Choctaw Casinos & Resorts (Choctaw) has been like a suitor that won’t take “no” for an answer.
Through the end of May, Choctaw had openly contributed $2,108,133.33 to Fair Play and who knows how much in dark money to other personas of Fair Play
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2022 Election
During the 2022 Republican primary campaigns for county judge and quorum court justices, numerous mailers and media ads were put out by United For A Better Pope County (UFABPC).
UFABPC is just another name of many used by the people who are behind Fair Play For Arkansas – 2022.
The funding for this campaign is thought to have come from Choctaw. The campaign tried to spread numerous untruths and innuendos, much of it anti-casino rhetoric.
The UFABPC campaign was largely unsuccessful.
An election day Facebook post shows a direct connection between Citizens for a Better Pope County and United for a Better Pope County.
The main focus of their campaign was the county judge.
In Arkansas, the county judge is the chief executive over the administration of the county.
They claimed that they had control of 2000 votes and recycled malicious casino-related claims that had been used in the 2020 election where the county judge position was NOT on the ballot.
The incumbent judge received 6,362 votes and the candidate supported by UFABPC received 2,865 votes.
Apparently, they were only able to find another 865 votes or, perhaps, they had fewer voters under their control than they believed.
In the quorum court justice races, their effort was very anemic. It may not have swayed any voters at all.
Of nine candidates on their list of candidates to thank “for opposing a casino mandate,” two were unopposed.
Three others lost their races.
Of the six returning to the quorum court, only three can be counted by the UFABPC/CFABPC/FPFA people on opposing anything the county judge favors. That trend may extend to casino-related matters that come before the quorum court.
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A poll by Impact Research
An April 2022 poll conducted by Impact Research showed “voters in Pope County – by double-digit margins – support a casino resort in Russellville and moving forward with the project as planned.”
According to the Arkansas Tourism Alliance, key findings of the poll include:1
Most Pope County voters favor building a casino resort in the county.
By a 15-point margin, registered Pope County voters support a casino resort (54% favor/39% oppose). Russellville voters are even more in favor, with support outpacing opposition by 26 points (60% favor/34% oppose).
An overwhelming majority of Pope County voters, including some not initially in favor, believe this issue should be a settled matter and want the casino resort to move forward.
After learning Arkansas voters approved the statewide amendment in 2018, an even greater share of Pope County voters – 66% – believe the casino resort should move forward, proving that an overwhelming majority believe this issue should be a settled matter even if some were not in favor of it initially.
A clear majority of Pope County voters believe a casino resort would be good for the local economy.
Close to six-in-ten Pope County voters think opening a casino resort would help the economy.”
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The Courier: Poll suggests Pope Co. residents more accepting of casino2
“Sentiment has changed,” said Mark Fulton, President of Cherokee Nation Entertainment
“It’s not often voters admit to changing their minds, but this data clearly shows a significant shift in sentiment since 2018, with a majority of Pope County voters now in favor of the casino resort project,” stated Zac McCrary, a partner at Impact Research.
“Relying on the proverbial ‘coffee shop talk,’ I think the general consensus is the public is exhausted by the entire issue and are to a point they want to see some finality to the topic, once and for all, one way or the other,” said Pope County Judge Ben Cross. “Obviously now that the public has had the opportunity to see the scope of the project, coupled with the economics and jobs surrounding this issue, then I believe it is being viewed in a different light than it was four years ago.”
McCrary said the data contradicts the current petition effort that seeks to eliminate the casino license on the sole premise that local voters don’t want a casino in Pope County, referring to the Fair Play for Arkansas petition drive.
The Fair Play for Arkansas group seeks a new Constitutional amendment to remove Pope County from Amendment 100.
- Arkansas Tourism Alliance. “News.” Arkansas Tourism Alliance Press Release. Arkansas Tourism Alliance, May 9, 2022. https://arkansastourismalliance.com/news-1. Accessed June 15, 2022.
- Seyler, Randal. “Poll Suggests Pope Co. Residents More Accepting of Casino.” . The Courier, Russellville, Arkansas, May 16, 2022. https://www.couriernews.com/news/poll-suggests-pope-co-residents-more-accepting-of-casino/article_225532a7-90a0-51a7-bfaa-45cfcd0c4479.html. Accessed June 15, 2022.