Arkansas Online Casino Bill Faces Bleak Odds in 2025
The future of House Bill 1861 (HB 1861), Arkansas’s shot at legalizing online casinos, looks dim as the current legislative session nears its April 11, 2025, end.
HB 1861 Hits a Wall
Senate President Pro Tempore Bart Hester dealt a blow, saying the bill “has no chance” of passing. He pointed to “fierce” pushback from Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Attorney General Tim Griffin, calling its approval “impossible” this round.
The bill, mirrored by the now-scrapped Senate Bill 524, aimed to greenlight mobile and desktop casino games like slots and craps for the state’s three licensed casinos.
Carlton Saffa, a key figure at Saracen Casino Resort, drove the effort. He argued HB 1861 would regulate online gaming, squash untaxed sweepstakes casinos, and funnel revenue to Arkansas. “Illegal online gambling’s rampant here, often run by foreign outfits, including Chinese-linked ones,” Saffa told lawmakers.
The plan was to license the state’s trio—Saracen, Southland, and Oaklawn, while cracking down on rogue platforms as felonies. Some bipartisan backing came from Rep. Matt Duffield and Sen. Dave Wallace, with a nod to funding student-athlete NIL programs too. But the clock’s ticking, and the odds aren’t shifting.
Opposition Locks It Down
Hester’s not alone in tanking HB 1861. Governor Sanders and AG Griffin stand firm against it, per Hester’s remarks, though neither’s commented publicly yet.
The Social and Promotional Games Association (SPGA), a sweepstakes casino trade group, also slammed the bill, defending its turf. With the session wrapping soon, the House Judiciary Committee’s set to take it up post-spring break in April—too late to beat the deadline, Hester says.
The resistance isn’t new. Arkansas’s gambling scene, tied to three brick-and-mortar spots since voters OK’d casinos in 2018, pulls $50 million in yearly taxes, per 2024 state data.
Online’s a different beast, and top brass seem keen to keep it out. Saffa’s pitch, curbing offshore sites and boosting state coffers, hasn’t swayed the big players. The SPGA’s stance hints at a broader fight, with sweepstakes raking in $1-$2 billion nationwide untaxed, per industry estimates.
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