Southland casino in West Memphis is offering sports betting ahead of Super Bowl Sunday, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Journalist Mike Wickline reports,
The casino’s retail sportsbook began accepting wagers on Sunday’s big game, NBA games, college basketball, NASCAR racing, PGA tournaments and more, Southland marketing manager Natalie Carlson said.
Sports betting is also offered at the Saracen casino annex in Pine Bluff — which is operated by the Quapaw Tribe out of Oklahoma — and at Oaklawn’s casino in Hot Springs.
Sports betting poses a real threat to sports leagues — especially at colleges and universities. It threatens to undermine the integrity of school athletic programs.
In 2017, Arkansans reported nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in gambling losses on their income taxes, according to the Department of Finance and Administration.
Simply put: Casino gambling and the state lottery are sapping hundreds of millions of dollars out of Arkansas’ economy every year.
