Arkansas legalized online sports betting in March 2022, but a 51% revenue rule kept the national brands out, so the only legal apps are run by the state's own casinos. Online casinos are not legal here. Real-money online casino play from Arkansas happens offshore. We verified which offshore casinos take Arkansas players, all 13 we track accept the state, and ranked the ones worth your deposit.
By Tum
Last updated
Facts checked against Arkansas law and casino terms: 24 July 2026
Open a sportsbook in Arkansas and the names look unfamiliar: Betly, BetSaracen, the Oaklawn app. That is not an accident. Arkansas legalized online sports betting in March 2022, but it wrote in a rule that most states did not: a casino has to keep at least 51% of the net gaming revenue from any online partnership. That math does not work for DraftKings or FanDuel, so the national brands stayed out, and the apps you can actually use in Arkansas are run by the state’s own casinos.
Those casinos exist because of Amendment 100, which voters passed in 2018. It authorized four of them. Three opened: Southland in West Memphis, Oaklawn in Hot Springs, and Saracen in Pine Bluff. The fourth, a Pope County license, has been fought over for years, and in November 2024 voters passed Issue 2 (now Amendment 104), which repealed that license and now requires a countywide vote before any new casino. A federal judge upheld the repeal in August 2025, and the Cherokee Nation, which had held the license, is appealing. As of mid-2026 the fourth casino does not exist.
None of that is an online casino. Sports betting is the only form of real-money online gambling Arkansas has legalized, and it comes through those casino-run apps. An Arkansan who wants online slots or blackjack has no in-state option, and the offshore casinos below are what is left.
Verified for Arkansas · 24 July 2026
Ranked by our review scores. The green line under each casino is our eligibility check: the date we read that casino’s own terms and confirmed Arkansas players are welcome. One casino is still waiting on its check, so its card makes no promise yet.
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✓ Accepts Arkansas players · terms checked 22 Jul 2026
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✓ Accepts Arkansas players · terms checked 22 Jul 2026
Terms name no US states; Arkansas not excluded · checked 22 Jul 2026
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✓ Accepts Arkansas players · terms checked 22 Jul 2026
✓ Accepts Arkansas players · terms checked 22 Jul 2026
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✓ Accepts Arkansas players · terms checked 22 Jul 2026
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Terms name no US states; Arkansas not excluded · checked 22 Jul 2026
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✓ Accepts Arkansas players · terms checked 22 Jul 2026
Terms name no US states; Arkansas not excluded · checked 22 Jul 2026
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✓ Accepts Arkansas players · terms checked 22 Jul 2026
Terms name no US states; Arkansas not excluded · checked 22 Jul 2026
Terms name no US states; Arkansas not excluded · checked 22 Jul 2026
Arkansas licenses sportsbooks, and only casino-run ones at that, but it does not license online casinos, so there is nothing state-approved for us to recommend. The casinos above are offshore: they operate from outside the US, mostly under Curacao or Panama licenses, and they take Arkansas players because no Arkansas law reaches them.
The trade-off is worth naming plainly. If an offshore casino treats you badly, no US regulator will step in on your behalf. The operator’s own track record is your protection, which is why payout history and dispute handling carry so much weight in our reviews, and why we run a complaints desk on every review page and take unresolved cases up with the casino ourselves.
Bovada leads the list here in part because it has lasted: paying US players since 2007, with the banking and dispute record to match. For the fuller picture of who licenses these sites and which licenses actually mean something, read our offshore casino guide.
Every offshore casino publishes a list of US states it turns away, and the lists rarely agree. Bovada refuses twenty states, Arkansas not among them; BetOnline refuses exactly one; Red Dog refuses only Kansas and Michigan. So we check each casino against its own terms:
Arkansas has three casinos and legal, if unusual, sports betting, but online casino play is not among the things the state allows.
| Vertical | Status | The facts |
|---|---|---|
| Online casinos | Illegal | No legal online casino. Companion bills HB 1861 and SB 524 (2025) would have legalized iGaming for the state's casinos and banned dual-currency sweepstakes, but both were withdrawn after the Governor, Attorney General and Senate leadership signaled opposition. No online-casino license exists in Arkansas. |
| Land-based casinos | Legal | Legal. Three casinos operate under Amendment 100 (2018): Southland in West Memphis, Oaklawn in Hot Springs and Saracen in Pine Bluff. A fourth Pope County license was repealed by voters through Issue 2 (Amendment 104) in November 2024; a federal judge upheld the repeal in August 2025 and the Cherokee Nation is appealing, so no fourth casino exists. Regulated by the Arkansas Racing Commission. |
| Sports betting | Legal | Legal. Retail books opened in 2019 and online betting launched on 5 March 2022. A rule requiring casinos to keep at least 51% of the revenue from any online partnership kept national brands out, so the legal apps (Betly, BetSaracen, Oaklawn) are run by the state's own casinos. |
| Lottery | Legal | The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery has run since 2009. |
| Daily fantasy sports | Legal | Paid daily fantasy sports are legal and regulated under Act 1075 of 2017. |
| Sweepstakes casinos | Gray area | No Arkansas statute bans the dual-currency sweepstakes model. The 2025 bill that would have banned it (SB 524 / HB 1861) was withdrawn, so the category sits in a gray area as of mid-2026. |
| Charitable bingo & raffles | Legal | Charitable bingo and raffles run by qualified nonprofits are licensed by the Department of Finance and Administration under Amendment 84 (2006). |
Placing a bet is only a violation, the lowest tier of offense: Ark. Code 5-66-106 makes betting on a prohibited game punishable by a fine of $50 to $100, not a misdemeanor or a jail term. Running a gambling house or keeping gaming devices under Chapter 66 is a more serious offense than the player's violation. The Arkansas Racing Commission and state police target operators; there is no record of Arkansas using its betting statute against an individual playing at an offshore online casino. Federal law points the same way, since the UIGEA targets gambling businesses and payment processors, not players.
Law facts last reviewed 24 July 2026.
Sources: Ark. Code 5-66-106 (betting, a violation, $50 to $100 fine) · Amendment 100 (2018): casino gaming and sports betting · Arkansas Issue 2 / Amendment 104 (2024): repeal of the Pope County license · Federal court upholds the Pope County repeal, August 2025; Cherokee Nation appealing · Online sports betting launched 5 March 2022; 51% revenue rule keeps national brands out · SB 524 / HB 1861 (2025): iGaming and sweepstakes bill, withdrawn · Arkansas DFA: graduated income tax, top rate 3.9% for 2026 · IRS Topic 419 (gambling winnings are taxable income) · One Big Beautiful Bill Act (2026): 90% loss deduction cap · UIGEA, 31 U.S.C. 5361 (federal law targets gambling businesses)
Arkansas built its gambling market almost entirely at the ballot box, and it is still arguing over the last piece.
Voters pass Amendment 100, authorizing four casinos and letting them offer sports betting.
Retail sportsbooks open at the new casinos as they come online, Saracen among them.
Online sports betting launches on 5 March, under the rule that keeps national brands out and the casino-run apps in.
Voters pass Issue 2, repealing the fourth Pope County casino license and requiring a countywide vote for any new casino.
A federal judge upholds the repeal; the Cherokee Nation appeals. A bill to legalize iGaming and ban sweepstakes is filed, then withdrawn. Withdrawn
Arkansas taxes gambling winnings as regular income under its graduated rates, where the top rate is 3.9% for 2026. That top figure has been falling for several years running as the legislature keeps trimming it, so it may drop again, but 3.9% is the rate on the books for this year.
Federal tax sits on top of the state layer. The IRS counts all gambling winnings as taxable income whether or not a W-2G is issued (IRS Topic 419), and offshore casinos send no such form, so keeping the record is on you. From the 2026 tax year, under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, only 90% of gambling losses are deductible federally, still capped at your winnings. Break even over a year at the tables and you can still owe tax on the slice of losses federal law no longer lets you deduct.
The takeaway: keep session-level records. Dates, deposits, withdrawals, results. No casino paperwork is coming, so your own log is the paper trail.
No Arkansas law stops a deposit. The friction is your bank: an issuing bank can decline a gambling charge, which is routine and not a legal problem. Visa clears more often than Mastercard, and several of these casinos add 5 to 15% fees on card deposits. Cards also cannot receive a withdrawal.
Crypto is what these casinos are built around, and the only method good in both directions. Bitcoin deposits are free at most of them, and payouts run in minutes to hours: about 15 minutes at Bovada once approval clears, 2 to 6 hours at Ignition, inside a day at Cafe Casino. New to crypto? Our Bitcoin buying guide walks it through.
Courier checks remain an option for the crypto-averse and still take one to two weeks. Our banking hub compares every method, and each review’s banking section lists the fees we measured.
Because Arkansas requires a casino to keep at least 51% of the revenue from any online sports-betting partnership. That leaves too little for the national brands, so DraftKings and FanDuel stayed out and the legal apps here, Betly, BetSaracen and Oaklawn, are run by the state’s own casinos.
No. Only sports betting is legal online. A 2025 bill would have legalized online casinos for the state’s casinos, but it was withdrawn after state leaders opposed it, so no online-casino license exists in Arkansas.
The risk is about as low as it gets. Placing a bet on a prohibited game is only a violation under Arkansas Code 5-66-106, not even a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of $50 to $100, and the state has never used it against an individual playing at an offshore online casino. Enforcement targets operators.
Yes. Arkansas taxes winnings under its income tax, with a top rate of 3.9% for 2026, and federal tax applies on top. From 2026 only 90% of losses are deductible federally. Details in the taxes section above.
18 at most offshore casinos, though a few require 21. Arkansas’s casinos and sportsbooks are 21. Each casino’s terms state its own minimum, so check before you deposit.
Rules change at every border. If you cross one, here is the picture next door:
