Are real-money online casinos legal in Arkansas, and what can you actually play in a state with three commercial casinos and licensed mobile sports betting?
Issue 4 passes 54.1 percent to 45.9 percent, authorizing four commercial casino licenses and putting the Arkansas Racing Commission in charge of regulation.
Online wagering goes live through apps run by Oaklawn, Saracen, and Southland after the Racing Commission approved the rule on December 30, 2021.
Voters back the anti-casino amendment 55.78 percent to 44.22 percent, repealing the fourth casino license and requiring countywide approval for any new one.
Rep. Matt Duffield withdraws the online casino bill after the House Judiciary Committee recommends an interim study. The Senate companion SB 524 from Sen. Dave Wallace had already been pulled.
National sportsbooks finally enter Arkansas under the 51 percent revenue-share rule, partnered with Oaklawn and Southland respectively. The Racing Commission approved them on February 26, 2026.
Arkansas Issue 2 of 2024 killed the Pope County casino license before a single shovel turned. The vote was funded almost entirely by two Oklahoma tribes that share a border with Arkansas. The Choctaw Nation paid Local Voters in Charge $17.6 million to pass it. The Cherokee Nation paid Investing in Arkansas $13.4 million to defeat it. Neither tribe operates a casino inside Arkansas. The Choctaw runs the Pocola floor 25 miles from Fort Smith. The Cherokee had just been awarded the Pope County license five months earlier.
Legends Resort & Casino Arkansas. A $300 million project on 325 acres outside Russellville. 50,000 sq ft of gaming floor, 1,200 slot machines, 32 table games, a poker room, a sportsbook, a 200-room hotel, a 15,000 sq ft event space, and a 5,000-seat outdoor venue. A $38.8 million economic development agreement with Pope County was already signed. CNE projected a $5 billion ten-year impact to Arkansas.
Pope County voted 61 percent against Amendment 100 back in 2018, the strongest county-level no-vote anywhere on the original ballot. Local Voters in Charge, funded by the Choctaw Nation, built the 2024 ballot question around that local opposition. The Cherokee outspent on TV but lost the statewide vote 55.78 to 44.22. A federal lawsuit filed in November 2024 was dismissed on August 28, 2025. The Tribe is appealing to the Eighth Circuit.
Pope County saga, 2018 to 2025
Issue 4 passes statewide 54.1 percent in favor. Pope County itself votes 61 percent against, the strongest no-vote of any county on the ballot.
A $300 million-plus plan with a 50,000 sq ft floor, 1,200 slots, 32 tables, a 200-room hotel, and a 5,000-seat outdoor venue on 325 acres outside Russellville.
After years of competing applications and court fights, the Arkansas Racing Commission grants the Pope County license to Cherokee Nation Entertainment.
Voters approve the constitutional amendment 55.78 percent in favor. Pope County goes 70 percent yes. Future casinos require a countywide vote in the host county.
US District Judge D. P. Marshall Jr. dismisses Cherokee Nation Entertainment’s contract clause and bill of attainder claims with prejudice. Takings claims dismissed without prejudice. The Tribe announces an appeal to the Eighth Circuit.
Arkansas's three Amendment 100 casinos pulled $742.6 million in gross gaming revenue across 2025, a record. Slots and electronic gaming devices ran 83 percent of the total, $610.3 million. Tax collections to the state rose 5.4 percent to roughly $116 million. The split between the three properties stayed wide. Southland in West Memphis kept the top spot by a margin of more than $128 million in slot win alone, helped by the Memphis-metro crossing point at the Mississippi River.
West Memphis
Caesars Entertainment
$292.7M
2025 slot win
Year over year +1%
Largest of the three. Mississippi River crossing point for Memphis-metro players. DraftKings became its mobile sports partner on March 20, 2026.
Pine Bluff
Quapaw Nation
$164.2M
2025 slot win
Year over year mid-single digits
Quapaw Nation property licensed under Amendment 100 as commercial, not Indian gaming. Operates the Betly sports app in-state.
Hot Springs
Cella family (privately held)
$153.4M
2025 slot win
Year over year flat
Only live thoroughbred meet in the state. Hosts the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby. FanDuel became its mobile sports partner on March 20, 2026.
The same 13 and 20 percent tax brackets that fund the state general revenue fund also feed live racing purses at Oaklawn (17.5 percent of sports betting tax) and the host city or county (a combined 27.5 percent). January 2026 set a single-month record at $10.46 million in gaming revenue, the strongest sign yet that the FanDuel and DraftKings launches in March will not slow the headline growth.
With no licensed online casinos in Arkansas, sweepstakes sites are the closest legal way to play slots and table games online. These are placeholders until our database is wired in.
Casinos we play at. We earn a commission when you sign up through these.
Arkansas has three commercial casinos. Within a few hours' drive across its borders sit several of the largest casino floors in the country, all tribal, none paying Arkansas taxes. WinStar in Thackerville, Oklahoma is the largest casino floor on the planet. Choctaw Pocola sits 25 miles from Fort Smith. The Mississippi-side Tunica cluster off I-55 is the eastern drain. The Pope County ballot fight was an inter-tribal battle to decide which side of which border kept the customers.
| Property | Location | Operator and note |
|---|---|---|
| WinStar World Casino & Resort | Thackerville, OK | Chickasaw Nation. World’s largest casino floor, 519,000 sq ft. Roughly 3 hours from Texarkana on I-30 to US-77. |
| Choctaw Casino Resort Pocola | Pocola, OK | Choctaw Nation. 25 miles from downtown Fort Smith. The Pocola exit off I-540 leads straight to the floor. This is the property the Choctaw spent $17.6M to protect. |
| Cherokee Casino Roland | Roland, OK | Cherokee Nation Entertainment. On the I-40 corridor at the Arkansas line. Counter to the Choctaw lane that drains Fort Smith. |
| Choctaw Casino Resort Durant | Durant, OK | Choctaw Nation. Choctaw flagship. Pulls from southwest Arkansas via US-70. |
| Gold Strike Tunica | Tunica Resorts, MS | Cherokee Nation Entertainment. Cherokee paid $450 million in cash to MGM Resorts in 2022. After losing Pope County, the Tribe runs a full Mississippi-side floor that pulls eastern Arkansas players across the river. |
| Horseshoe Tunica | Tunica Resorts, MS | Caesars Entertainment. One of nine Tunica properties off I-55. The Mississippi cluster has been the eastern Arkansas drain since the early 1990s. |
After losing Pope County to Issue 2 in November 2024, Cherokee Nation Entertainment kept its eastern flank by running Gold Strike on the Mississippi side of the river. The Choctaw Nation protects the western flank with Pocola. Arkansas, by closing the door to a fourth commercial casino, has effectively asked its residents to keep spending across the line.
Arkansas voters approved Issue 4 on November 6, 2018 with 54.1 percent in favor, adding Amendment 100 to the state constitution. The amendment authorized four commercial casino licenses, one each in Crittenden, Garland, Jefferson, and Pope counties, and put the Arkansas Racing Commission in charge of regulating them. Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Southland in West Memphis, and Saracen in Pine Bluff (owned by the Quapaw Nation but licensed as commercial, not Indian gaming) all opened on Amendment 100 licenses. On November 5, 2024 Issue 2 passed with 55.78 percent in favor, repealing the Pope County license and requiring countywide approval for any new one.
Online expansion stopped at sports betting. Mobile wagering launched March 6, 2022 under a Racing Commission rule that requires the casino to keep at least 51 percent of net online revenue, which kept national brands out until early 2026. On February 26, 2026 the commission approved FanDuel as Oaklawn's platform vendor and DraftKings as Southland's, and both apps went live on March 20, 2026. For online casinos themselves there is no enacted law. Rep. Matt Duffield withdrew HB 1861 on April 7, 2025 after the House Judiciary Committee recommended an interim study. Sen. Dave Wallace had already pulled the companion SB 524 a day after introduction. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Attorney General Tim Griffin both oppose legalization, and no iGaming bill has been filed in the 2026 fiscal session as of May 2026.
When the Arkansas Racing Commission wrote Rule 2.13.4(d) for mobile sports betting in December 2021, it added a line no other state has copied: any third-party operator must leave at least 51 percent of net online sports betting revenue with its partnered Arkansas casino. For four years that math kept the national brands out. FanDuel and DraftKings need most of net revenue to cover bonuses, marketing, and tech. The workaround that finally cracked the market on March 20, 2026 was structural, not regulatory. The two operators stopped trying to operate independently and signed on as platform vendors. Oaklawn runs FanDuel on its license. Southland runs DraftKings on its license. The casino keeps its 51 percent on paper, and the operator gets its brand on the front end.
How mobile sports betting is structured across the region
The same 51 percent rule shapes how any future Arkansas iGaming bill would have to be written. HB 1861 in 2025 anchored online casino licenses to the existing three Amendment 100 properties, the same structure the sports betting rule already requires. Sen. Bart Hester said publicly that Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Attorney General Tim Griffin would vigorously oppose the bill, and Rep. Matt Duffield pulled HB 1861 on April 7, 2025 for an interim study. A 2027 general-session attempt would land under the same casino-anchored framework.
The forms of gambling Arkansas residents can legally use right now.
Legal since March 6, 2022 under Arkansas Racing Commission rules. Five apps are now live: Oaklawn Sports with FanDuel, Southland with DraftKings, and Betly through Saracen, plus the original Oaklawn and Southland house apps. The 51 percent rule means at least half of net online revenue stays with the partnered casino. Minimum age is 21.
Three properties operate under Amendment 100: Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs (also a thoroughbred track), Southland Casino Hotel in West Memphis, and Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff. Slots, table games, poker rooms, and retail sportsbooks are all available. Minimum age is 21.
Launched in 2009 to fund college scholarships. Powerball, Mega Millions, scratchers, and in-state draw games are sold at about 1,900 retailers. There is no state iLottery, but the third-party courier Jackpocket operates in Arkansas. Minimum age is 18.
No Arkansas statute bans the sweepstakes model. HB 1861 tried to outlaw dual-currency platforms in 2025 and died with the iGaming bill, so social and sweeps sites remain accessible to residents and serve as the closest legal substitute for online casino games.
The Department of Finance and Administration licenses nonprofits that have been active in Arkansas for at least five years to run bingo and raffles under Title 23, Chapter 114. Volunteer-only operation, paper bingo cards in person, and net proceeds must go to charity. No casino-style charity nights are authorized.
The Quapaw lived in what is now eastern and southern Arkansas for centuries before federal removal pushed most of the tribe to Indian Territory in the 1830s. Chief Saracen, who refused to leave, died in Pine Bluff in 1832 at the age of 97 and is buried in the St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery there. The resort the tribe opened on the same Jefferson County ground 187 years later carries his name. Saracen is the only Amendment 100 casino with tribal ownership. It is also one of the few cases in the country where a federally recognized tribe runs a commercial, state-licensed casino on fee-simple land rather than federal trust land. The trade was speed. Skipping the Department of the Interior land-into-trust process let the Quapaw open Saracen in October 2019, the same year Cherokee Nation Entertainment was still drawing renderings for Pope County.
| Property | Location | Licensing | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saracen Casino Resort | Pine Bluff, AR | Commercial license under Amendment 100 | Opened October 1, 2019 on the Quapaw ancestral homeland. Slots, tables, sportsbook, hotel. |
| Downstream Casino Resort | Quapaw, OK | IGRA Class III, tribal trust land | Tri-state corner of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. Quapaw flagship before Saracen. |
| Quapaw Casino | Miami, OK | IGRA Class II | Smaller property near Downstream. Originally the Quapaw’s first commercial gaming venture. |
| Saracen Annex | Pine Bluff, AR | Amendment 100 satellite | Stand-alone sportsbook and gaming annex a few miles from the main resort. |
Cherokee Nation Entertainment, the tribe that lost Pope County, answered with a cross-border purchase of its own. CNE paid MGM Resorts $450 million in cash for Gold Strike Tunica in 2022, a full Mississippi-side floor that pulls eastern Arkansas players across the river. The two tribes that funded both sides of Issue 2 now run the two largest non-Arkansas casino floors closest to the state.
No. Arkansas has not legalized real-money online casino games, and the state licenses no online operators. The 2025 iGaming bill, HB 1861, was pulled from the House Judiciary Committee on April 7, 2025 for an interim study. Any site advertising an Arkansas online casino is offshore and outside state oversight.
Yes. Mobile sports betting has been legal since March 6, 2022. Five apps are live as of May 2026: Oaklawn Sports (FanDuel), Southland (DraftKings), Betly from Saracen, and the original Oaklawn and Southland house apps. The minimum age is 21.
No Arkansas law currently bans sweepstakes or social casinos. HB 1861 in 2025 would have outlawed dual-currency platforms alongside legalizing iGaming, but the bill was withdrawn for interim study, so sweeps sites are still accessible to residents.
The minimum age is 21 for casinos and mobile sports betting, and 18 for the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery and charitable bingo or raffles.
Not yet. HB 1861 was pulled for an interim study after the 2025 session, and as of May 2026 no replacement bill has been filed in the 2026 fiscal session. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Attorney General Tim Griffin both oppose iGaming, so a 2027 general-session attempt remains the most likely path. We update this page when the legal status changes.
