As home to Walmart, former basketball coach Nolan Richardson, the Ozarks, pine trees, hogs, and former President Bill Clinton, Arkansas is among the states with a lot of attention. Besides, the state has an exciting gambling history, especially Hot Springs which was one of the largest gambling meccas a century ago.

With sports betting now taking over the US gambling industry by storm, many sportsbooks are lining up to go live in Arkansas because of the state’s love for gambling. Besides, Razorbacks, Travelers, Northwest Arkansas Naturals, Muleriders, Little Rock Rangers, Sugar Bears, and RimRockers are just a few selections of the teams Arkansas bettors can root for. Read through this article to get more insights into online sportsbooks in Arkansas.

Best online sportsbooks in Arkansas

DraftKings sportsbook Arkansas Best sportsbook for beginners
FanDuel sportsbook Arkansas Best sportsbook for Daily Fantasy Sports
PointsBet sportsbook Arkansas Best sportsbook for NHL betting
BetRivers sportsbook Arkansas Best sportsbook for MLS betting

A good sportsbook should offer attractive bonuses and promos, a user-friendly interface, a mobile app, personalization features, live-streaming, and live-betting features, among others.

Luckily, our experts have done an amazing job of finding some of these bookies. Here are our choices of the best online sportsbooks in Arkansas alongside reasons for choosing them:

Betly Sportsbook Arkansas

Betly sportsbook in Arkansas is one of the most user-friendly sites for beginners and comes with a dedicated mobile app, adequate banking methods, and helpful customer support. Betly’s layout is simple with the home page having everything you need to place a bet.

On your left are navigation buttons for various features, the central part lists markets for major upcoming events alongside their spread, moneyline, and total bets for easy betting. Also, the top part has three navigation buttons, Home, Live Events, Promotions, and Rules. Also, the section on your right is for creating your bet slip whenever you are picking bets. So, while it doesn’t look like a high-tech platform, it allows you to place your favorite bet with a few clicks. Besides, you can enjoy live betting, odds boosts, and promotions whenever they are available.

BetSaracen Sportsbook Arkansas

BetSaracen sportsbook in Arkansas is streamlined for easy navigation by players. The bookie brings the Information Game Technology (IGT) techniques into action for the utmost sports betting experience. Thus, Arkansas bettors can easily get started with the bookie with its stepwise account registration process and enjoy the dark-themed, quality sportsbook.

As a product of the best-in-class technology, BetSaracen has an optimized mobile sportsbook app available for both Android and iOS devices in their respective app stores. And signing up for an account with them gives you access to a variety of betting markets including the popular MLB, NHL, MLS, MMA, NFL, PGA, NASCAR, ATP/WTP, and FA, among others. Moreover, you can enjoy betting on live events in the In-Game, sports section.

FanDuel Sportsbook Arkansas

This dominant sportsbook countrywide offers the leading betting bonuses and promos, a user-friendly interface, and stellar market coverage. Additionally, FanDuel sportsbook in Arkansas accepts many payment methods, offers a wide range of live betting options, and has a modern betting app.

Getting started with the bookie is straightforward with the stepwise sign-up process. After that, you can make your first qualifying deposit and grab the massive No-Sweat First Bet sign-up offer. Next, you’ll have access to all the site’s features including live streaming, same-game parlays, early cash-out, and live betting. Besides, regular players may get parlay, loyalty, and odds boosts bonuses.

DraftKings Sportsbook Arkansas

This is a futuristic sportsbook, especially for Arkansas’ savvy app users who’d like to enjoy placing bets with just a few clicks and getting betting notifications. The DraftKings sportsbook app offers a personalized sports betting experience, built-in analysis, and statistics, a responsible betting feature (Play Limits), live-streaming, push-up notifications, and live betting.

Newcomers get a superior quality welcome offer with a deposit bonus and free bets. And the existing players often get recurring promos, odds boosts, loyalty bonuses, and referral bonuses. Besides, Arkansas DraftKings sportsbook players get a clean betting interface, a variety of betting options, and convenient payment options.

PointsBet Sportsbook Arkansas

For players who like a high-risk high-reward form of betting, PointsBet is one of the best choices. Its PointsBetting format allows you to increase your payouts the more your bet wins. Conversely, the more your bet loses, the more your losses also increase. Beyond this, PointsBet offers a top-notch mobile app, offers attractive bonuses, recurring promotions, and at times spread lines above the industry’s standard.

New players can take advantage of PointsBet’s risk-free bets which are double the industry’s average bonus. Then they can earn other bonuses from PointsBet’s rewards program, referral bonuses, parlay bonuses, and ongoing promotions. And when faced with a challenge, there’s always someone at the back of the screen to help you. You can reach out to them through the live chat available on a 24/7 basis, email, and Twitter.

BetRivers Sportsbook Arkansas

BetRivers one of the rock-solid sports betting platforms with a flawless reputation for its quick payouts, great desktop site, and attractive bonuses. It attracts new players with generous welcome offers and gives them a wide range of recurring promotions to make their stay remarkable. Payment cards (credit and debit), checks, PayPal, PayNearMe, and Play+ are some of the most convenient payment methods accepted by BetRivers in Arkansas.

Signing up with them is an easy three-step process, and you can place your bet within the same day of registration. Arkansas state players can enjoy the superior quality BetRivers sportsbook app that is available for both Android and iOS users in their respective app stores. It comes with password savers, early cash-out, live betting, same-game parlays, and live-streaming features.

Online sportsbooks are legal in Arkansas, but Betly and BetSaracen are currently the only available brands in the state. While more are expected to enter the market in the future, this may take some time.

The controversial 51% revenue-sharing plan that was accepted probably made it hard for other sportsbooks to launch in the state. However, with the booming market, other bookies may soon join the two sportsbooks even if the controversial law persists.

Signing up for an online sportsbook in AR

Joining an online sportsbook or betting app in Arkansas is an easy stepwise process. The sportsbooks only need to identify you, verify that you are in Arkansas, and keep your account safe.

And to do this, you’ll need to give your identification details, and account info, and verify your location through the bookie’s inbuilt geolocation trackers.  Here is a general stepwise guide to registering an account with any sportsbook in Arkansas:

  1. Pick an online sportsbook in Arkansas from our list. Remember, all sportsbooks on our list are market leaders in terms of online sports betting experiences countrywide.
  2. Make an account and verify your identity. To do this, visit the bookie’s web-based platform or open its mobile app. Then click on Sign-Up, Join Us, Register Account, or any related term and follow the registration process. The details required often include your full name, mobile number, password, email, home address, username, ID, and last four digits of your SSN.
  3. Deposit funds and receive your welcome bonus. Visit the bookie’s cashier or deposit section, choose your preferred deposit method, enter an amount, and complete the transaction. To be eligible for the ongoing welcome bonus, make deposits of amounts within the range of qualifying amounts.

Best sports teams in Arkansas you can bet on with sportsbooks

Arkansas online gambling offers many teams and sports to its followers.. Softball, soccer, baseball, volleyball, golf, and basketball are the state’s most followed sports. Betting on these sports also forms most of the sports betting handles.

Here are the leading sports teams’ players can wager on with Arkansas sportsbooks.

  • Arkansas Travelers: With its name derived from the old folk song, The Arkansas Traveler, the team plays in Minor League Baseball and gives some impressive betting markets. It boasts as one of the minor league teams to have graduated more than six former players to Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Each Travelers event is always full of fans and excitement and a bet on it can bring an unforgettable experience. Besides, the online sportsbooks in Arkansas always offer their betting markets in their entirety.
  • Arkansas Razorbacks Football: Representing the University of Arkansas in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) or NCAA and SEC, the Razorbacks is one of the most followed teams in the state. It has won thirteen conference championships and holds an all-time record of 731-525-40. Notably, our list of online sportsbooks in Arkansas always gives the most competitive odds for Razorbacks events. And with a good winning record, betting on the team can be a very lucrative undertaking.
  • Arkansas Pin Bluff Golden Lions: Competing in the Southern Athletic Conference, the Golden Lion’s basketball team has a good following. In fact, it holds the history of leading in six consecutive years in terms of attendance from 2009 to 2015. It has also appeared in NCAA once, and it may soon play in the tournament again because of its outstanding performance. To bettors, the team is a perfect selection since it has a huge potential of giving massive payouts.

Top sports leagues on online sportsbooks in AR

Players in Arkansas can place on any sporting event in and outside the state, thanks to the myriad of betting markets offered by the top sportsbooks. They offer markets for almost every sporting event you’ll find in any sportsbook worldwide.

Besides, they have popular sports sections where Arkansas players can choose markets for the major leagues and sports in the country. Here are some featured leagues you’ll find on all our picks of the best sportsbooks in AR:

  • NFL: This is arguably the most followed sport across the country. Also, it tops in sports betting handles because of its huge markets and events throughout the year. Point spread, Moneyline, totals, and live bets are the most common types of NFL bets. But players can also place futures and prop bets.
  • NBA: As one of the sports often seen through the lens of sports betting, NBA offers a variety of betting options all year round. Each team plays 82 games; thus, players will hardly miss an NBA match to wager on anytime they log into their sportsbook accounts.
  • MLB: This is also one of the most followed sports countrywide that generates a lot of betting interest among Arkansas players. It is popular for Moneyline and props bets.
  • NHL: Offering full of end-to-end action, NHL is one of the leading adrenaline-pumping sports in the United States and the rest of the world. Betting on it adds to the excitement and the AR sportsbooks offer all the NHL markets whenever they have events.
  • MLS: Soccer is gaining traction in the country and many teams and athletes are gaining popularity. In fact, Major League Soccer now has many professional athletes from all parts of the world. MLS betting markets are always available whenever there’s an event anywhere in the country.

Different types of bonuses on Arkansas sportsbooks

Both new and regular players get a variety of bonuses on Arkansas sports betting sites. These include those coming as sign-up bonuses, promos, referral bonuses, rewards, loyalty bonuses, and more. Here are brief descriptions of what type of bonuses you can expect from Arkansas sportsbooks:

  • No deposit bonus: This is a bonus you get by just signing up for a sportsbook in the state. It mostly comes as free bets. For instance, DraftKings and FanDuel offer no deposit bonuses for their casino’s newcomers.
  • Matched deposit bonus: This is a bonus amount given after you make your first deposit. The bookies often match your deposit with a bonus to a certain maximum value. And it’s more common on BetSaracen and DraftKings sportsbooks.
  • Acca insurance: As a bookmaker’s promotion, you get back a percentage of your stake as free bets when one leg losses in a football or other sports’ parlay bet.
  • Risk-free bets: Also known as the first bet insurance, a risk-free bet in Arkansas is a type whereby, the sportsbook returns a portion of your stake when you lose your first bet. It is common on Betly, FanDuel, PointsBet, and BetRivers.
  • Free bets: These are non-cashable free site credits, coupons, or vouchers that you can only bet with them in full. They are offered at sign-up or as promotions. FanDuel, DraftKings, PointsBet, and Betrivers regularly offer some attractive free bets.
  • Best odds guaranteed: This is a concession given by sportsbooks through competitive odds that ensures players get high potential wins. It mostly applies to greyhound racing and horse racing.
  • Odds boosts: This is where the bookie deliberately increases betting odds by a certain margin without players incurring extra risks. So, their potential wins also increase without extra costs.
  • Parlay insurance: As a bonus type, a sportsbook refunds a portion of your stake if one leg in your parlay bet loses. Notably, the refund is not a free bet and is cashable. It is common with DraftKings and FanDuel sportsbooks.

Are there any retail sportsbooks in AR?

Currently, there are three retail sportsbooks in Arkansas, each located in one of the three casinos operating in the state.

However, the number will soon change after the completion of the fourth casino in Pope County which is planning to include a sportsbook. Here is a description of all three sportsbooks currently accepting in-person wagering in Arkansas:

  • Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort: Having served as a premier horse racing facility for over a century, Oaklawn is the most prestigious and oldest retail location in Arkansas. It was the first location to go live in July 2019 and is a full-service facility with kiosks and teller windows. So, players can visit here to have an exciting retail sports betting experience with a good lighting system, huge screens, and spacious rooms.
  • Southland Casino Hotel: Famous for offering horse racing betting and viewing, the Southland Casino also offers less formal sports betting than Oaklawn. Here, players can access the sportsbook through tellers and the scattered kiosks. Besides, they can enjoy entertainment options, food, and drinks.
  • Saracen Casino Resort: As one of the few countrywide casinos under tribal ownership, Arkansas players can place on sports via the casino’s kiosks at the convenience stores across the street. Although it has no physical sportsbook, it promises a remarkable betting experience with many betting markets.

FAQ

What is the minimum age to bet on sportsbooks in Arkansas?

Anyone wishing to bet on sportsbooks in Arkansas must be at least 21 years old. Players should give their correct date of birth while signing up for a sportsbook account. Failure to do that means the bookie won't verify your age and your account creation will not be a success.

Is it safe to bet on sportsbooks in AR?

Yes, using online sportsbooks in Arkansas is safe. These bookies offer the most secure betting services by protecting their player's accounts perfectly and offering the most secure payment methods. For instance, DraftKings and FanDuel add an extra two-factor authentication security layer that protects your account from unauthorized login.

When will Arkansas approve more online sportsbooks?

No timeline has been given yet as to when more sportsbooks will be approved by the state of Arkansas. Many sportsbooks have shown interest in going live in the state but a number of them still believe that AR should make the revenue-sharing policy more friendly. However, with many states now drafting laws to ease sportsbook operations, Arkansas lawmakers may soon change how sports betting is regulated.