Following a last-second decision from the attorney of the Arkansas Racing Commission, residents of the Natural State will be unable to place online sports bets for Super Bowl LVI. This comes as a blow to sports betting fans in Arkansas, as well as the three operating casinos in the state.
The decision was made by attorney Byron Freeland following a proposed amendment to state gambling rules that changes the word ‘”revenue” to “receipts.”
Rejected proposal
The Arkansas Racing Commission had previously signed off on a proposal to allow sports betting via Arkansas licensed casinos. This proposal meant that established casinos would receive 51% of the proceeds when working with online
sports betting sites. This percentage is around four to five times higher than the national average of 5% to 15%.
The decision was not welcomed by lobbyists, who had wanted the decision on revenue split to be negotiated by the individual sports being companies and casinos. This system would give the casinos the option of approving or rejecting any offer. This proposal was not passed and this effectively thwarted the chance for casinos to accept online bets for the Super Bowl.
The official explanation for the proposal not being passed was that additional time was required to allow legislators and other stakeholders to request adjustments. As such, the proposal is not likely to be revisited until late February or March, too late for it to impact upon the big clash between the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals on February 13th.
Amendment 100 – The importance of a single word
The changing of the word “revenue” to “receipts” was voted for in response to comments from the public that questioned the implications of the ‘revenue’. The change is in reference to Amendment 100 of the Arkansas Constitution.
Amendment 100 was passed in November 2018 and authorizes the Arkansas Racing Commission to grant one license each to the racetracks at Hot Springs and West Memphis, plus one casino in each of Pope and Jefferson counties. As such, land-based sports betting in the state has been available since July 2019 at these locations.
Prior to the proposed word change, this Amendment also permitted the three casinos in Arkansas (Southland Casino Racing, Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort and Saracen Casino Resort) to partner with established sports betting operators (such as FanDuel and BetMGM) to run legal online sportsbooks, but it did not allow them to operate a sportsbook if “a majority of the net gaming revenue from the online sports pool is paid to a third party vendor assisting in the operation of the sports pool.”
Freeland’s view was that if a third-party casino partner were to receive over half of the revenue from sports betting it would be in contravention of Amendment 100. Following this verdict, it is proposed that Amendment 100 is changed to state that “casino gaming receipts” are “gross receipts from casino gaming, less amounts paid out or reserved as winnings to casino patrons.”
Unsurprisingly,
gambling legal news
sources have indicated that this decision has not been fully backed in all quarters, and as such, it is going to be further reviewed at a meeting.
Conclusion – Bad news for sports betting fans
Due to the importance of this decision, it is understandable that the legislators and other stakeholders felt it appropriate to take a safety-first approach to the issue and delay a decision on the final changes until after a further meeting on the subject has taken place.
But whilst this delay is understandable, it comes as a huge disappointment. NFL fans in the Natural State, are now unable to place online bets at Arkansas sports betting sites, meaning that betting on the Super Bowl, or any other sporting event, is off-limits until the situation is resolved.
