“Arkansas Wins 2020” Dropped By Backers After Court Denial

• Arkansas Wins 2020 was intended to bring 16 more casinos to Arkansas residents but was denied by the courts after collecting nearly 100,000 signatures.
• The Board of Election Commissioners denied the ballot title as well as denied the campaign for failing to meet petition requirements.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Arkansas Wins campaign that was intended to amend the legal casino legislation and bring 16 more casinos to the Wonder State has been officially abandoned by its backers.

This comes after both the Board of Election Commissioners and Secretary of State John Thurston denied the casino appeal for various reasons.

After collecting nearly 100,000 signatures and still being denied, the backers of the Arkansas 2020 campaign have filed a motion to dismiss the case, ultimately ending the campaign moving forward.

Campaign End

The current state of legal gambling in Arkansas will not be amended after the Arkansas 2020 campaign case is dismissed. Gamblers of the Wonder State will not be gaining 16 additional casinos at this time.

The campaign was dealing with two appeals in court after being denied. One was the ballot name being denied by the Board of Election Commissioners as well as Thurston’s denial due to the failure to meet petition requirements.

A hearing was initially set for Saturday before campaign backers opted to dismiss the cases altogether.

"Arkansas Wins in 2020 has filed a motion for a voluntary nonsuit and will not be taking further legal action,” said Taylor Riddle, spokesman for Arkansas Wins in 2020. “It is unfortunate that the Secretary of State’s office was unwilling to defend the will of the nearly 100,000 Arkansas voters who signed our petition and we believe our argument before the Supreme Court was valid. We look forward to benefiting the overall wellbeing of Arkansans during these uncertain social and economic times.”

The constant push back that the Arkansas Wins 2020 campaign received is another example of how difficult it can be for legal gambling in the USA to be altered, amended, or improved upon.