Keetoowah Band Fights Arkansas for Casino

The recently proposed Cherokee Indian casino for Fort Smith is meeting resistance from Arkansas political leaders

The Keetoowah Band of Cherokees and businessman Bennie Westphal are seeking permission to construct a new casino on the Arkansas River front in downtown Fort Smith.  The Keetoowah band is based in Oklahoma.  They currently own a gambling operation in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs claims they have yet to receive a casino application from the tribe.  The tribe has received federal recognition and does intend to file an application.  A decision from the bureau could take as long as a year and a half once they receive the application.

Last November, voters in Arkansas expanded legal gambling by allowing electronic games of skill at racetracks in West Memphis and Hot Springs.  Indian tribes have the right, under federal law, to offer any games on their reservation or trust properties that are allowed within the state.  Casino opponents are concerned that this recent expansion in legal gambling could be the tribe’s foot hold in getting their casino.   Fort Smith falls in the district represented by John Boozman (R).  Representative Boozman opposes the casino.

Arkansas Senator, Mark Pryor (D), says “Arkansans have spoken to this issue many times and said, ‘No,’ and I will oppose any effort to undermine their will.”  Senator Pryor has even discussed supporting a new bill to ban the construction of Indian casinos on non-reservation property.  Pryor is also considering Senator John McCain’s (R) bill to ban gambling on non-reservation property.

The tribe has not received any further support from Governor Mike Huckabee.  Governor Huckabee is convinced that though he may be in opposition, his successor will have to concern themselves with the casino organizers.   The two leading candidates to replace Huckabee are former Republican congressman Asa Hutchinson and Democratic Attorney General Mike Beebe.  Neither candidate has answered directly in support or opposition of the casino; both say more legal research in needed.

Not all of the tribe’s opposition comes from local government.  The Cherokee Nation argues that the Keetoowah band has no right to build a casino on the Fort Smith land.  According to Cherokee Nation spokesman Mike Miller, “They have never had a reservation or any land set aside for them.”  As a counter point, Westphal believe that that very argument may work to the tribe’s advantage.   

Developers for the casino believe it could produce as much as $80 million dollars in profit in its first year of operation.  The casino is planned to have a 250-room hotel and twice as many slot machines as the casino the Keetoowah band owns in Oklahoma.

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