Mobile sports betting via Arkansas casinos could soon be legal, but an opportunity for legislators to give final approval that was scheduled for this week was pushed back.
Back up: what does Arkansas law currently say about sports betting? Arkansas law allows four casinos in the state. Three are operating now — Oaklawn Racing Casino in Hot Springs, Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff and Southland Casino Racing in West Memphis — and the last is set to be built in Pope County.
It is currently legal for casinos to run sports betting operations, but patrons must be on-site to place wagers. (Horse race betting through Oaklawn is not considered a part of sports betting.)
A new proposal approved by the Arkansas Racing Commission, which makes decisions about casino operations, would allow the casinos to offer mobile sports betting — in other words, patrons could place wagers when not physically present at the casinos. Bettors would still need to be physically in Arkansas at the time of placing the bet, though.
What are the specifics of the proposal?
Under the proposed rules approved by the Racing Commission on Dec. 30, casinos cannot make deals that would give a majority of the revenue from mobile sports betting to a third-party vendor who assists with the operations.
This means Arkansas casinos would have to take home at least 51% of profits when partnering with groups such as DraftKings or Fanatics. In other states, local casinos commonly keep just 5-15% in these partnerships.
What was supposed to happen this week and why was it delayed?
The Legislative Council was supposed to conduct a final review of the mobile sports betting rule change Friday, but one word was altered in the proposal during a brief meeting of the Racing Commission on Tuesday — the word "revenue" was changed to "receipts.”
Arkansas Racing Commission attorney Byron Freeland told the commission that the change is in response to public comments questioning what the commission meant by net casino gambling "revenue." He said the word change is consistent with Amendment 100 to the Arkansas Constitution, which outlines how casinos can be operated.
Freeland pulled the proposal from the agenda for the Legislative Council’s meeting this week to “allow for additional time to adequately address questions recently raised by state legislators and other interested parties” according to a spokesman.
The spokesman said the rule may go before the Legislative Council in February or March.
Read more about what’s been happening with mobile sports betting from reporter Michael Wickline and sign up for our politics newsletter to stay up-to-date on all things state government.