On Thursday, the Arkansas Racing and Gaming Commission is scheduled to meet. One item that will be discussed is the review of applications from DraftKings and FanDuel to operate in partnership with an Arkansas-based casino.
Scott Hardin is the spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, the department that oversees the Gaming Commission. He says two of the three casinos in Arkansas have indicated an interest in working with the country's largest mobile sports betting apps.
"Oaklawn and Southland have at least indicated they would like to do that. The third — Saracen — has not indicated their support. And in fact, they've been vocal about their opposition to this."
"I think there's a lot of strange things going on here."
That's Carlton Saffa, the chief market officer for Saracen Casino Resort, based in Pine Bluff. He first heard that the two big apps were looking to come to Arkansas back in November or December, which he says surprised him.
"FanDuel themselves said on the record, when we discussed sports betting many years ago, that it was unfeasible to enter our market."
Let's back up just a moment to contextualize this comment. In 2022, the state's Gaming Commission unanimously voted to pass a rule that requires 51% of the revenue from a sports gaming app to remain with an Arkansas casino. Hardin says that decision was made to ensure it remains an Arkansas-based and -owned app.
The major brands like DraftKings and FanDuel balked at this rule and lobbied at the state level for them to reconsider. In a letter provided to Ozarks at Large, a quote from 2022 by FanDuel's director of government affairs said that this 51-49 split would make it "financially unfeasible" to operate at that low of a margin.
Saffa says that allowing a national sports betting app to use your casino license is hard to imagine in any other capacity of their offerings.
"Think about how ridiculous this would be if we went to the Racing Commission and said, 'Hey, Saracen doesn't want to run its own slot floor anymore, so we're going to let XYZ Corp run it for us. They're going to do everything — basically be the casino — and then just send us a piece of it at the end.' Everybody'd say, 'No, you're the casino licensee, Saracen. You run your own casino. You don't get to sublet your license. You can't loan it out to somebody and collect a check.'"
Hardin says that logistically, there could be advantages to a partnership with one of these brands.
"One, just the technology itself. With that partnership, they could gain access to that wide range of services that they provide. Two, I think it's just name recognition. I think that's ultimately where a lot of the value is. I mean, if you watched the Super Bowl this year, if you watched for 30 seconds, if it wasn't an ad for one of these platforms, you'd see it in the next ad. So it's not surprising that people see power in these brands."
Saffa describes their power in a different way — as a vampire.
"The reason that I refer to them as a vampire is multifaceted. One, when you do business with FanDuel, the majority of the revenue gets vacuumed up to another state. With DraftKings, it's to Boston; with FanDuel, it's to New York. But two, you do not employ Arkansans."
One way that Arkansans benefit from in-state casinos, regardless of your participation, is in tax revenue. The three casinos combined generated almost $116 million in taxes just last year. Hardin says that about $655 million was wagered on sports betting alone.
"If you look at that $655 million — that's overall wagers — 95% of that was through the apps. So a very, very small portion was actually placed on site at casinos."
Saracen's mobile betting app, Bet Saracen, controls more than 50% of the overall market in the state. But Saffa points out the growth of one of their competitors.
"I will tell you, Oaklawn Sports is a great product. And Oaklawn Sports grew 90% year over year. They almost doubled year over year. Now, Bet Saracen is growing double digits, but Oaklawn Sports is growing at a much faster rate than Bet Saracen. So to me, it absolutely defies logic — why, with a 90% year-over-year growth rate, it defies logic why they would invite these vampires in. I can tell you, if our sportsbook was growing 90% year over year, we wouldn't consider taking on a partner to run it for us."
We reached out to DraftKings, FanDuel and Oaklawn to request an interview or comment on this story. None of them responded to our request.
It's worth noting the implications if — and that's a big if — DraftKings or FanDuel are allowed to enter the market in Arkansas first. On the topic of tax revenue, Hardin says that with one of the recognizable companies being available in Arkansas, it could potentially increase overall revenue. But if past is prologue, that's not a sure thing.
Voters in Missouri narrowly approved the legalization of sports gambling in 2024. In the amendment that passed, it indicated that most of the tax revenue from sports gambling is dedicated to public schools and higher education.
It went live on Dec. 1, 2025. The state licensed 16 operators, including DraftKings. The Missouri Independent reports that in the first month of operation, more than half a billion dollars in bets were placed. Nearly 40% of those bets were placed through DraftKings. DraftKings paid zero dollars in taxes, claiming a negative net result after paying out more than $48 million in promotional benefits to gamblers. Of the $543 million bet on sports in that first month in Missouri, just $521,200 was received by the state — less than one one-hundredth of 1% of the total wagered.
Saffa says he's worried that if DraftKings or FanDuel enter the market and partner with Oaklawn, it will do what they have done in every other state they are operating in.
"Which is cover the state with billboards and television ads that induce people to gamble that may have never gambled before and likely ought not be gambling. Take a 22-year-old college kid — an offer of 'give us $5 and here's $5,000 on us.' There's a point at which it becomes almost predatory and inducing to get people to bet. And I'm deeply concerned that these sorts of offers — which very quickly dry up, by the way — can be dangerous. And you'll have to ask them why they're looking to bail out and do business with someone that just a few years ago, they said could not do business in the state legally and should not do business in the state based upon the way that they operate."
Moore: If this does end up going through, could you foresee Saracen taking legal action, filing a lawsuit?
"I would say that in order to preserve what the people of Arkansas voted when they authorized casino gaming, we would reserve all rights, and I would not say that anything is off the table."
Saffa ends his letter to the commission by saying he believes this issue is the most substantive matter before them in years, and he is confident it will be viewed as such by the membership.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
