| Sports (online) | Live | 2022 | Competitive | Amendment 100 itself did not authorize statewide mobile wagering; the Racing Commission adopted a rule change in 2022 to permit it through partnerships between the state's licensed casinos and third-party mobile sportsbook operators, with a requirement that the casino licensee receive at least 51% of net sports-pool revenue (the reason national brands had to partner with casinos rather than operate independently). In February 2026, the Commission unanimously approved FanDuel (partnered with Oaklawn) and DraftKings (partnered with Southland) to launch statewide mobile sportsbooks. Ark. Const. amend. 100; Arkansas Racing Commission Rule 2.13 (casino gaming/sports wagering rules) [1],[2],[3] |
| Sports (retail) | Live | 2019 | Competitive | Amendment 100 authorizes casino licensees to accept wagers on sporting events to the extent not prohibited by federal law; retail sportsbooks opened at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort first, followed by Southland Casino and (later) Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff. Ark. Const. amend. 100; Ark. Code Ann. § 23-115-101 et seq. [4],[5] |
| Online casino | Not authorized | | | Companion bills (SB 524 and HB 1861) to license the state's three casinos for online casino gaming were filed in March 2025; SB 524 was withdrawn and HB 1861 was pulled and referred to a House Judiciary Committee interim study ahead of the 2026 fiscal session, so no iGaming authorization has passed as of this research.[6],[7] |
| Online poker | Not authorized | | | No statute authorizes online peer-to-peer poker; the 2025 iGaming bill that would have authorized broader online casino games did not pass.[6] |
| Commercial casinos | Live | Apr 1, 2019 | Competitive | Amendment 100 authorized up to four casino licenses: Oaklawn (Hot Springs) and Southland (West Memphis), both prior "electronic games of skill" racing venues that converted to full casinos (Southland effective April 1, 2019, offering blackjack, craps, and sports wagering), plus new licenses for Jefferson County (Saracen Casino Resort, Pine Bluff) and Pope County. The Pope County license was awarded to Cherokee Nation Entertainment in 2019 but was tied up in litigation for years and ultimately eliminated by voters in 2024 (see Amendment 104/Issue 2 under legal_events); as of this research only three Arkansas casinos (Oaklawn, Southland, Saracen) are operating. Ark. Const. amend. 100; Ark. Code Ann. § 23-117-101 et seq. (Arkansas Casino Gaming Act) [4],[8] |
| Tribal casinos | Not authorized | | | No tribal Class III gaming compact or federally recognized tribal land exists within Arkansas; Cherokee Nation Entertainment's Pope County project was a commercial (non-tribal-land) casino license under Amendment 100, not IGRA tribal gaming, and that license was ultimately revoked by Amendment 104 (2024).[9] |
| Lottery | Live | 2009 | Monopoly State | Amendment 87 was approved 648,122-383,467 (about 63%-37%) on November 4, 2008, authorizing the state to establish, operate, and regulate a lottery to fund the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship Program (college scholarships/grants for Arkansas residents). Ticket sales and scholarship funding began in 2009; more than $1.1-1.4 billion in scholarship proceeds had been raised as of recent reporting. A 2024 companion amendment (Issue 1/Amendment 2024, approved ~89.6%, effective January 1, 2025) expanded eligible uses of lottery proceeds to vocational-technical schools and technical institutes, which the original 2008 text had excluded. Ark. Const. amend. 87 [10],[11] |
| iLottery | Not authorized | | | No Arkansas Lottery statute or program authorizes direct online ticket sales by the Lottery itself. Residents instead access tickets through third-party courier apps (see lottery_couriers); the Lottery's spokesperson has described its role as regulating the retailers couriers use, not operating an iLottery channel of its own.[12] |
| Daily fantasy | Live | Legalized Jan 1, 2017 | Competitive | Act 1075 of 2017 (originally H.B. 2250) declares paid-entry fantasy sports contests are not gambling, imposes an 8% DFS privilege tax on net revenue, but creates no licensing regime or consumer-protection rules. Arkansas became the 11th state to legalize DFS under this framework. Minimum age to play traditional DFS is 18 per DFA/secondary guidance, versus 21 for licensed sports wagering. Act 1075 of 2017 (Fantasy Sports Contests) [13],[14] |
| VGTs / VLTs | Not authorized | | | No video gaming terminals are authorized at bars/truck stops outside the state's three licensed casinos. |
| Historical horse racing | Live | Legalized 1999 | Monopoly State | Oaklawn began offering "instant racing" (wagering on replays of previously run horse races via slot/video-poker-style terminals) after 1999 legislative authorization, giving Oaklawn an early form of HHR-like gaming years before the broader 2005 "electronic games of skill" framework or the 2018 full-casino conversion under Amendment 100. This research did not confirm whether instant racing remains a legally distinct product from Oaklawn's current casino slot floor. 1999 Ark. Acts (instant racing authorization) [15] |
| Sweepstakes casinos | Contested | | | No Arkansas-specific sweepstakes-casino ban has passed. A March 2025 bill package (SB 524/HB 1861) would have both legalized iGaming at the state's three casinos and banned dual-currency sweepstakes casinos as a felony; SB 524 was withdrawn and HB 1861 was pulled and referred to a House Judiciary Committee interim study ahead of the 2026 fiscal session. Sweepstakes casinos remain, by default, the only online casino-style option available to Arkansas residents.[6],[7] |
| Prediction markets | Contested | | | Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin issued Opinion No. 2025-073 on October 23, 2025 (requested by Sen. Bryan King), concluding that a Kalshi-style event-contract platform constitutes gambling/gaming requiring state licensure because a participant wagers on an uncertain future outcome, and that transmitting sports data "for the purpose of gaming" independently violates state law. The opinion is advisory and carries no direct enforcement force; no cease-and-desist letter or lawsuit against a named platform was identified in this research, distinguishing Arkansas's approach from states that have directly ordered Kalshi to cease operations. Arkansas sits in the Eighth Circuit, which has not ruled on Kalshi's CFTC-preemption theory as of Oct. 2026. Ark. Code Ann. § 5-66-104 (gambling); Ark. Code Ann. § 5-66-118 (unlawful transmission of gaming information, as cited in the AG opinion) [16],[17] |
| Skill games | Repealed | | | Before Amendment 100 (2018), Arkansas permitted "electronic games of skill" at licensed racing venues (Oaklawn and Southland) under a framework dating to Act 1151 of 2005, which let voters in cities/ counties with existing racing parks approve such machines; the devices were defined to require some exercise of skill such that chance did not completely control the outcome (following the Longstreth lottery-definition case law). Amendment 100 superseded this framework by converting those venues to full casinos with traditional slot machines and table games.[15] |
| Card rooms | Not authorized | | | No standalone cardroom licensing framework outside poker rooms at the state's licensed casinos. |
| Lottery couriers | Live | Sep 1, 2020 | Competitive | Arkansas has permitted lottery courier services since at least September 2020, when Jackpocket launched by partnering with a licensed Little Rock retailer (Winners Corner) that keeps a lottery terminal behind the counter; couriers purchase physical tickets on the customer's behalf and provide a scanned copy, redeeming prizes under $600 directly and requiring in-person redemption above that. Lotto.com and Jackpot.com (via retailer Lucky Choice) also operate as couriers in the state. The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery has stated its position: "We manage and oversee the actual lottery retailers, not the app that they're selling through, so yeah, this is fully within the rules." This model relies on each courier being tied to a licensed physical retailer rather than a dedicated courier-licensing statute.[12],[18] |
| Pick'em fantasy | Contested | | | In February 2024, the Department of Finance and Administration sent cease-and-desist letters to PrizePicks and Underdog, asserting their pick'em-style contests (which DFA characterized as "player prop" bets) are unlicensed sports betting rather than fantasy sports contests under Act 1075, and ordering them to leave the Arkansas market. As of mid-2026 secondary reporting, major pick'em apps continued operating in Arkansas despite the letters, and it remained unclear whether DFA would escalate enforcement. Act 1075 of 2017 [19],[14] |
| Pari-mutuel | Live | | Competitive | Live thoroughbred racing continues at Oaklawn under the Horse Racing Law; Amendment 100 preserved horse and greyhound racing wagering under these existing statutes alongside the new casino framework. Greyhound racing at Southland ended around 2019-2022 (secondary sources describe a planned end "by December" 2019 and a 2023 feature describing the track having gone from greyhound ["grey"] to casino ["blue"]; this research could not confirm the exact closing date from a primary source). Arkansas Horse Racing Law, Ark. Code Ann. § 23-110-101 et seq.; Greyhound Racing Law, Ark. Code Ann. § 23-111-101 et seq. [15] |
| Advance deposit wagering | Live | 2013 | Monopoly State | Ark. Code Ann. § 23-110-405 lets a horse-racing franchise holder (i.e., Oaklawn) accept wagers from patrons with funds on deposit by phone, mobile device, or other electronic means, treated as if placed at the track, subject to Racing Commission approval and rule. The Commission adopted implementing ADW rules in November 2013, and Oaklawn launched its ADW platform (OaklawnAnywhere) around the end of 2013. A separate Commission rule requires any out-of-state ADW provider taking Arkansas wagers to have a written agreement with the Arkansas franchise holder and comply with the federal Interstate Horseracing Act of 1978. Secondary reporting states bettors must be 18 or older, consistent with the broader 18+ pari-mutuel/horse-racing minimum age (see facts). Ark. Code Ann. § 23-110-405(e); 006.06.13 Ark. Code R. 002 (ADW rule) [20],[21] |
| Charitable gaming | Live | | Monopoly State | Bingo and raffles are legal only for qualified "authorized organizations" — nonprofit tax-exempt religious, educational, veterans, fraternal, service, civic, medical, volunteer rescue, firefighter, or police organizations that have existed in Arkansas for at least 5 years — licensed by the Dept. of Finance and Administration under the Arkansas Bingo and Raffles Enabling Act (voter-approved 2006 constitutional amendment, implemented 2007). Net proceeds must go to charitable/religious purposes.[22] |
| Esports betting | Not authorized | | | Casino Gaming Rule 20.010(21) defines "sports event"/"sporting event" as a professional, amateur, collegiate, or motor-race athletic event, and restricts wagering to live events involving human athletes, expressly excluding "any virtual or simulated event." No esports-specific carve-out or Racing Commission approval was found, so esports wagering is not authorized under the current sports-wagering rule.[23] |
| Social casino | Contested | | | No Arkansas-specific cease-and-desist letter or lawsuit against a sweepstakes-casino operator (VGW, Stake.us, etc.) was identified, unlike Louisiana, Mississippi, and several other states. However, VGW has been collecting state sales tax on Gold Coin (non-sweepstakes) purchases in Arkansas since mid-2025 per industry reporting listing Arkansas among states "already enforcing" VGW sales-tax collection, suggesting continued VGW operation in the state rather than a market exit. Pure free-to- play (no sweepstakes-coin) social casino apps were not separately addressed in sources reviewed.[24] |