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LITTLE ROCK, Ark (Gambling911.com) - Arkansas has a few casinos in which to gamble. While online sports betting is now available, it's mostly been limited....until this past year.
Arkansas Casinos
Arkansas casinos generated about $610 million from slots/terminal games in 2025. Players put approximately $7.8 billion through the machines, with the casinos retaining about 7.8%.
While iGaming is not yet regulated, real money casinos and sweepstakes casinos still accept customers from the state.
Arkansas lawmakers made a serious attempt to ban dual-currency sweepstakes casinos in 2025, but it failed (a similar situation happened in Mississippi). As of September 2026, Arkansas has not enacted a sweepstakes-casino-specific ban.
Southland is the heavyweight retail casino in Arkansas. Its proximity to Memphis gives it a particularly large regional market. In 2024, commercial gaming revenue was approximately $338 million at Southland, $188 million at Saracen and $182 million at Oaklawn.
Oaklawn Hot Springs in Hot Springs is another of the biggies. It is a substantial regional casino resort, although the casino itself isn't on the scale of the giant Las Vegas properties.
The property covers approximately 200 acres and, in addition to theracetrack, there is a 200-room luxury hotel, spa, restaurants and bars, and roughly 18,000 square feet of event space. Oaklawn completed a major $100 million expansion in 2021 that transformed it from primarily a racetrack/casino into a full destination resort.
Southland alone generated $25.41 million in December of 2025 slot revenue, compared with $14.37 million at Saracen and $12.80 million at Oaklawn, an estimated 78% of that from slots.
Arkansas Sports Betting
Sports betting handle reached approximately $656 million in 2025, and 94% of it was mobile. Mobile handle has grown from $122 million in its partial launch year of 2022 to $617 million in 2025.
Prior to last year, the online sports betting apps available to Arkansas residents were subpar, putting it kindly.
The sports betting market here now consists of the nation's two powerhouses, FanDuel and DraftKings. They only entered the market over the past year.
Betly Arkansas was operated by Delaware North, through its ownership of Southland Casino Hotel in West Memphis. Delaware North developed the Betly sportsbook through Gamewise, its joint venture with Belgian gaming company Gaming1.
There has been a major change in 2026, though: Betly Arkansas stopped accepting wagers on March 20, 2026. Betly directed customers to Southland's retail sportsbook or to its new online partner, DraftKings. Customer balances could be withdrawn through June 30, with remaining balances mailed afterward.
Unfortunately, the Razorbacks football team is not expected to be very good in 2026. They only had a win total of 3.5.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
