The expansion of gambling at Southland Greyhound Park in West Memphis and Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs has been submitted to referendum among residents of the two areas.
Voters will have to decide whether tracks can add to their current offer electronic games, such as slots or video poker machines. This would mean the survival of Southland and Oaklawn Park tracks, as well as the generation of hundreds of jobs, that would favor the welfare and economic growth of both communities. This, at least, is the point of view of those who back the gambling expansion of tracks. Actually, Southland track has spent over 1 million dollars in campaigns to advertise the benefits of expanding their offer.
Opponents to the expansion do not have so much money to invest in campaigns to tout their points of view, and the results of the referendum are likely to favor tracks. The arguments opponents expose are based on the social cost that gambling would cause to communities once it would be accessible to everyone. The alliance Pastors against Gambling lead West Memphis groups that oppose to the gambling expansion measure.