23 CAR § 358-210. Selection process and criteria based on merit selection

(a)(1) In addition to documentation establishing minimum qualifications, the casino applicant shall submit responses to the Arkansas Racing Commission’s merit criteria in a form and manner prescribed by the commission. (2) Criterion shall be published with the notice of open application. (3) In addition, representatives of the casino applicant shall appear before the commission and the commission’s consultant for an interview regarding the casino applicant’s qualifications and proposal for operating a casino in Arkansas. (b) The commission shall consider the following criteria based on merit to evaluate applications: (1) Experience conducting casino gaming; (2) Timeline for opening a casino; (3) Proof of financial stability and access to financial resources, including but not limited to legal sources of finances immediately available to begin operating a casino; and (4) Detailed summary of proposed casino including hotel, amenities, projected number of employees, and any other information the casino applicant deems relevant. (c) Each merit criterion will be worth a number of points announced by the commission in the notice of open application period. (d)(1) The commission shall evaluate the applications and award points for each merit criterion. (2) The points shall be totaled for each application and the applications ranked from the highest total score to the lowest total score. (3) The commission shall notify in writing each of the casino applicants of their respective score and their respective ranking among all casino applicants.