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Arkansas Online Casino Legalization Bill Is Taken Off the Table by Its Initiator

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Arkansas Online Casino Legalization Bill Is Taken Off the Table by Its Initiator

Article author: Vitalii Klymenko

01.28.2026

5 min read

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Arkansas State Representative Matt Duffield has withdrawn his legislation, which provided legal means for online casinos to operate in the state, just weeks after it was introduced. Although the House Judiciary Committee was scheduled to discuss HB1861, Duffield withdrew it in advance, while Senator Dave Wallace had already pulled the Senate version, SB524, a day after its introduction.

If implemented, the three brick-and-mortar casinos of Arkansas would have been allowed to introduce their virtual counterparts. Moreover, only licensed operators would have gotten permission to implement a sweepstakes dual-currency model, which was and still is being used to abuse legal loopholes.

Nevertheless, the Judiciary Committee suggested researching HB1861 before the upcoming year's session, so even though the initiative has grim prospects for 2025, the bill will likely be looked at after revisions in the forthcoming year.

HB1861 is one of two bills addressing sweepstakes that haven't been successful this year. The other is Mississippi's HB1302, which had considerable support but stalled due to online sports wagering provisions added by House Representative Casey Eure.

Unlike the bills that initially aimed to regulate sweepstakes but faltered due to legislative overreach, a few pieces of legislation still afloat in discussions focus solely on addressing some states' push to curb unregulated sweepstakes activity, like Louisiana’s bill SB181.

A few other states have decided to abandon their online casino initiatives in 2025; for instance, New Hampshire’s Senator Tim Lang has retracted his SB60, allegedly due to limited legislative backing, while Virginia’s Delegate Marcus Simon put off his HB2171 referencing the necessity for additional investigation.

Industry experts tend to agree that 2025 isn't likely to produce any real online casino legislation due to opposition, often stemming from concerns about problem gambling and competition with land-based casinos. Arkansas retracting its bill became one of many indicators of the upcoming struggle.

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