Arkansas sports betting nears $1B in wagers as mobile apps reshape game day. (Photo: KATV)
LITTLE ROCK (KATV) —For Arkansas sports fans in 2026, the game can start long before kickoff — with research, a gut feeling and a bet placed from a phone.
Sports betting has given Arkansans a way to turn their emotional investment in their team into a financial one, and at Saracen Casino, Chief Marketing Officer Carlton Saffa says few teams draw more action than the Razorbacks.
“When Arkansas is playing, it’s Arkansas. But we also have quite a bit of interest in in-game wagering. You can place a bet at the end of the game. You know, with five minutes left in the fourth quarter, with two minutes left in the fourth quarter. We see a little bit of everything,” Saffa said.
The average wager on a college football game is far smaller than NFL counterparts, and that’s part of the appeal..
“The guy betting 20 bucks on his team—that’s great, because it tells me people are betting with their shirt on and they’re not losing their shirt,” Saffa said.
Sports betting has grown sharply in Arkansas since it began..
“The first year, 2019, there was 11 million dollars wagered on sports,” said Schott Hardin of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. “Last year, 2025, there were 655 million, and this year so far today, we’re averaging two and a half million dollars wagered per day on sports.”
That pace puts the state on track for close to $1 billion wagered this year.
A major shift came with the ability to place bets on mobile devices. Mobile sports wagering became legal in Arkansas in 2022.
“It’s a way that you can get in the game, change the game with sports from any couch anywhere in Arkansas,” Saffa said.
For four years, Saracen’s BetSaracen app controlled about half the market. Then in March, national sportsbooks entered Arkansas: DraftKings partnered with Southland Casino, and FanDuel partnered with Oaklawn, bringing new promotions and more choices.
“Before DraftKings and FanDuel entered the market, we were the 13th largest book in the United States. And so I think perhaps we were too successful. We invited the competition into the state,” Saffa said.
In July alone, Southland and DraftKings took $28.2 million in mobile wagers, Oaklawn’s FanDuel operation took $24 million, and BetSaracen took $8.8 million.
Those wagers contribute to the state’s bottom line through taxes, but Hardin says returns from last year were modest.
“Overall from the three casinos we generated about 116 million. If you want to break that our further about 9 million of that came from sports betting.”
As sports betting increases, so do calls to Arkansas’ problem gambling hotline, which were up 23% in the first half of this year.
Saffa said Saracen makes it easy for customers to self-limit by placing caps on deposits and the number and size of bets — features he said are difficult to reverse once they’re in place.
“We are aware of the fact that what we do can be very dangerous, and it can ruin people’s lives. Our business is doing very well, but we do not want people who have a problem betting with us. Nothing good can come from that,” Saffa said.
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