Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, which began sports wagering July 1 with 12 kiosks in its Race & Sports Book area, will add eight more in time for the first Arkansas Razorbacks football game this weekend.
Oaklawn Mutuels Manager Zack Gillham said minimum $5 bets can be placed on the kiosks before or during any game, and the "bigger" the game is, the further out from the game date someone can bet.
"The kiosks are available the entire time we're open," Oaklawn Media Relations Manager Jennifer Hoyt said, "but if you're more comfortable placing a live bet, you can still make it with one of our cashiers."
However, Gillham said they prefer betters use the kiosks for live betting because they are much more user-friendly with how quick sports betting odds change.
"In baseball, they change pitch to pitch, and in football they could change play to play or possession to possession," he said. "So for live wagering, we really push people to use the kiosk. We'll walk you over here, we'll show you how to do it, but it's much easier for you to do it over here. It's essentially a big cellphone."
Gillham explained the process of how betting on the kiosk works.
He said once a player has decided to bet and inserted his minimum $5 bet amount, the player would select the sport of choice to be given the wagering option of selecting a "spread" or "money line," and a "total."
"The spread is effectively having a handicap, so the better team is going to have to win by more," Gillham said. "The money line is just a straight-up win, and then the total you're betting on how many points or runs are going to be scored in the game ... after you get your team selected you're going to put in the stake amount."
He said once the bet amount is entered and the wager looks accurate, the player would hit "place bet," printing out a confirmation ticket.
If a player who has placed a bet leaves Oaklawn before the game is completed, Gillham said they have the option to mail in the tickets.
"Our current tickets don't have it on there, but our future tickets will actually have exactly what you need to do to mail in your ticket," he said. "For now, if you have any questions pertaining to mailing in a ticket, we ask that you just call and speak to us here in Sports Book."
Gillham said Oaklawn has received "rave reviews" on its Sports Book betting.
"People have been waiting for 30 years to be able to do this legally in Arkansas," he said. "We've seen people driving from Texas, as far as Austin, we have people coming from Louisiana (and) we have people coming over from Memphis -- even though Tunica is right there -- they're coming to us."
Gillham said the biggest question Sports Book visitors have is how can they reserve a seat.
"Just to answer that question, there are no reserving of seats. It is going to be on a first-come, first-serve basis at this point. We are going to require that you have placed a bet or you have a live wager pending to actually sit in the Sports Book, but like I said, minimum bet's $5, so that's not going to be too much to ask of people."
Hoyt said the Sports Book offers "pretty much every sport available."
"We have obviously the popular ones like NFL, well coming up we'll have NFL. Major League Baseball's obviously been very popular this past month. (We also have sports like) cricket and rugby."
Local on 08/30/2019