Arkansas Could Debut Mobile Betting in Time for Super Bowl

On February 14th, 2022, millions of viewers across the world will be glued to their screens as they follow events from the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California where this year’s Superbowl will be taking place. The Superbowl is one of the world’s most viewed sporting spectacles to date. Millions of online sports betting enthusiasts will also be placing bets in the hope of winning big. If you come from Arkansas there is reason to be more upbeat about this year’s Superbowl. Pending legislative approval, your state could debut mobile betting just in time for the Super bowl. Exciting news, right?

Here's a step-by-step breakdown of how this came to be a possibility;

On 30th December 2021, the Arkansas Racing Commission(ARC) voted to approve rules and regulations that would pave the way for mobile sports betting to become a reality in Arkansas. The rules are expected to go through a legislative sub-committee where pending no major last-minute hurdle, it is expected to pass. You see, sports betting is legal in the state of Arkansas, just not mobile betting. Sports betting itself just became legal in Arkansas in November 2018. Retail sports betting was legalized at up to four locations in Arkansas. Three are already in operation with the set up of the fourth in progress.

The meeting on 30th December 2021, was set up by the ARC to hear out those opposed to mobile betting as well as those in favor of the move as well as prospective stakeholders. What were the major bones of contention in this highly charged meeting? Let’s find out

Bone(s) of contention

• Revenue Sharing

The revenue-sharing issue was always going to be a major bone of contention. Here’s a lowdown of what went down;

The ARC placed a 51% revenue clause that requires host Casinos to retain that percentage of any net mobile sports betting revenue. Of course, this caused a split in opinion with the local casinos very okay with the idea. The national bookmaking giants were however vehemently opposed to the idea. Daftkings, MGM & resorts International, Fan Duel, and BallyBet were of the persuasion that, in other states, they usually share just 5 to 15% with their local Casino partners. The justification for this according to them was that they do much of the funding and marketing that serves to bring much of the spotlight to the local casinos. Based on this argument, they, therefore, held that they reserve the right to keep a majority of the revenue generated from mobile betting.

The representatives from the local casinos (i.e., Saracen Resort Casino, Oaklawn Racing and Gaming, and Southland Park and Gaming facilities) held a different view though. You see, this would all make perfect sense had the national bookmakers not agreed to similar terms (51% revenue sharing) in the state of New York. Again, there was a counter-argument of the stark difference in population between the two states. Eventually, it was settled that the 51% revenue sharing provision would stay.

• Licensing

According to the rules set in place, each of the retail casinos can offer 2 mobile betting licenses. Well, your guess is as good as mine, the national bookmakers didn’t like this one bit. They Instead proposed that 4 mobile betting licenses be issued to each casino to expand the playing field for more players. This idea was also shot down with the ARC voting to stick to two mobile betting licenses for each casino.

Whilst the negotiation was as intense as is expected one thing was clear from it all, Arkansas will not bend to the demands of the big bookmakers. There are also plans by the retail casinos already in place at Arkansas to set in place a local mobile betting platform to ensure that majority of the revenue is retained in Arkansas. The negotiations undoubtedly favored the local casinos. There is something to be proud of here as an Arkansas resident in that it looked out for their own first. A rare thing in today’s fast-moving business world.

What’s in store for the future of mobile betting in Arkansas?

If the figures from other states that have approved mobile betting are anything to go by, then you are definitely in for a feast Arkansas residents. There will of course be an exponential increase in state revenue generated from betting as a whole. The figure from 2021 was $1.2 Million. You can be sure that this figure will grow should the mobile betting proposal pass by the last hurdle. The Chief Market Officer, of Saracean Casino, one of the retail casinos in Arkansas, said that this would open up the Arkansas market to a projected 3 million people. Just imagine the revenue streams from this population. Tennessee and Louisianna, Arkansas’ close neighbors have already approved mobile sports betting. It is up to Arkansas to keep up with the rest so as to not be left behind.

The future is undoubtedly looking bright for mobile betting in Arkansas. In preparation for mobile betting going live soon, in Arkansas, be sure to check out the major players like Daftkings, MGM, and FanDuel for what they have to offer. See you at the Super Bowl!