Mobile Sports Betting Goes Live in Arkansas

As legalized online sports betting spreads across the U.S., one thing, in particular, has become very clear. While U.S. sports bettors are more than willing to visit retail betting sites to make bets, they would much rather place their bets through mobile devices when they want and from wherever. That has been proven clear time and again as many states are seeing a split of 80%/20% of mobile sports betting handle compared to the retail variety.

Just a week after Betly joined the ranks of online/retail bookmakers taking bets in Arkansas, sports bettors are getting the gift of access to mobile sports betting immediately. That is because of the fact that both Betly and BetSaracen have formally launched their own sports betting apps.

For the state of Arkansas, this is big news. It points out just how far the state has come in four months. Four months ago, sports betting in Arkansas was legal, but legal sports bets had not yet started flowing through betting windows. The only wagers Arkansas residents were making were those that were being made in neighboring states.

All of that changed when the Saracen Casino Resort in the Arkansas town of Pine Bluff started accepting both retail and online sports bets through their BetSaracen brand. When Betly joined the fray last week, that gave the state two sports betting options but still only limited access to making mobile bets through a native mobile app. Arkansas sports betting has now reached the pinnacle.

More About Mobile Sports Betting in Arkansas

While operating through the Southland Casino in West Memphis, Betly actually soft launched their mobile app at the very end of April. Unfortunately, the mobile app was and is still only available for Arkansas residents who have mobile devices that are compatible with the iOS (Apple) operating system. No date has been set for the launch of an Android-compatible mobile app.

Meanwhile, BetSaracen has beaten Betly to the punch once again with the release of its branded mobile app, which is compatible with both iOS and Android-compatible devices.

Saracen Casino is to be commended for the effort they made to get their proprietary mobile app to market so quickly. They started from scratch just a few months ago and beat the more established Betly brand to market with an Android sports betting app.

In a recent press release to the Arkansas Business Journal, Carlton Saffa, Saracen’s chief marketing officer had this to say:

“Our Saracen Team has worked day and night for months to finally bring a first-class, Arkansas-based sports wagering app platform to the state’s many sports fans."

While this exciting mobile sports betting news was being released, regular patrons of the Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs will continue to be limited to retail sports betting at the Oaklawn Park Race Track. When contacted for comment, officials at the Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort said that they hope to release their own proprietary mobile app sometime during the summer.