LITTLE ROCK — Attorney General Dustin McDaniel issued an amended opinion Friday after a private attorney in New Jersey spotted an error in an opinion McDaniel issued earlier in the week certifying a proposed gambling amendment.
The error occurred in an opinion approving the popular name and ballot title of a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow Nancy Todd’s Poker Palace and Entertainment Venues to own and operate one casino per county in Crittenden, Franklin, Miller and Pulaski counties.
Eric Frank, an attorney with the Duane Morris law firm, which represents gaming clients around the world, said he was writing about the opinion on his blog when he noticed that something was missing in language about a proposed 12.5 percent tax that would be imposed on the casinos’ revenue.
The opinion identified how the tax revenue would be distributed, but the percentages did not add up to 100 percent.
“If they had gone forward and tried get signatures on the ballot, it could have caused some serious trouble,” Frank said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Frank said he advised a lawyer for Nancy Todd’s Poker Palace, who passed the information on to McDaniel’s office. McDaniel’s amended opinion adds Arkansas Children’s Hospital to the list of recipients of the proposed tax.
The tax would be distributed as follows: Public schools, 30 percent; the Arkansas Department of Veteran Affairs, 10 percent; Arkansas Children’s Hospital, 8 percent; Medicaid Trust Fund, 8 percent; a senior care prescription drug benefit program, 8 percent; state apprenticeship programs, 6 percent; the county in which the casino operates, 12 percent; and counties with no casino gambling, 18 percent.
Las Vegas-based Nancy Todd’s Poker Palace must collect 78,133 signatures of registered Arkansas voters to place the approved version on the November general election ballot.