Oaklawn at a glance
What Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort Is
Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort is Arkansas’s only live thoroughbred horse racing facility, combining one of the oldest continuous race meets in the United States with a full-scale casino that opened following Arkansas’s 2018 constitutional amendment. The property sits at 2705 Central Avenue in Hot Springs, the resort city that has anchored Arkansas’s entertainment economy for over a century.
The combination of live racing, simulcast wagering, a sportsbook, 32 table games, 1,530 slot machines, and a destination hotel makes Oaklawn the most layered gaming and entertainment property in the state. Regulars at Oaklawn plan visits around the live racing calendar, while day-trip casino visitors treat the track as a backdrop to the casino floor.
Venue photo
Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort
Hot Springs, Arkansas
Live Racing & Simulcasting
Oaklawn’s live thoroughbred racing meet runs from roughly January through early May each year. The meet is one of the more competitive mid-level thoroughbred circuits in the country, drawing horses from across the region and consistently including stakes races worth meaningful purses. The spring meet draws racing fans from Arkansas, Texas, and surrounding states.
Outside the live meet, Oaklawn offers simulcast wagering on races from other tracks year-round. The simulcasting room and the race and sports book let horseplayers continue betting on races and sports events throughout the calendar year. This year-round operation is part of what distinguishes Arkansas racino properties from standard casino-only venues.
Games at Oaklawn
Casino Floor
The casino floor added to Oaklawn’s racing operation carries 1,530 slot machines and 32 table games. The table lineup is notable for including both standard formats and technology-enhanced variants: Fusion Auto Roulette and Fusion Blackjack use automated dealing systems rather than live dealers, and the I-Table Blackjack and iTable Ultimate Texas Hold’em formats combine electronic play surfaces with live oversight.
Standard pit games include blackjack as the headline, alongside craps and 3 Card Poker.
Craps completes the standard-format side of the pit alongside 3 Card Poker.
3 Card Poker is one of the more accessible carnival-style games for first-time table-game visitors, with a simple three-card hand structure and a Pair Plus side bet.
The Ultimate Texas Hold’em iTable rounds out the alternate-game options. The sportsbook handles both race wagering and Arkansas-legal sports betting on a single platform, which is operationally uncommon and worth noting for visitors who want to bet both horse racing and sporting events in one venue.
Hotel, Spa & Resort Amenities
Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort operates as a full destination property. The on-site hotel connects directly to the racing and casino complex, allowing overnight guests to move between their rooms and the gaming floor without leaving the building. The amenity stack includes a spa, fitness center, swimming pool, banquet facilities, meeting rooms, wedding space, and a shopping area.
Dining covers multiple restaurants on property, with the usual distinction between a flagship full-service restaurant and more casual gaming-floor options. Entertainment programming runs concerts and comedy shows year-round, with a calendar that typically intensifies during the racing meet. The resort format suits both racing fans who plan multi-day visits around the meet and casino visitors looking for a Hot Springs-area resort option.
Amenities
- Banquet
- Fitness Center
- Pool
- Resort
- Restaurant
- Spa
- On-site Hotel
Location & Parking
Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort is at 2705 Central Avenue in Hot Springs, Arkansas, on the main commercial corridor through the city. Hot Springs sits roughly 55 miles southwest of Little Rock via US-70 or Interstate 30 with US-270 west. From Little Rock National Airport the drive is under an hour.
The property offers banquet and resort parking. Hot Springs as a destination city means Oaklawn sits within walking or short-drive distance of Bathhouse Row, the national park, and the Garvan Woodland Gardens, which makes the surrounding area a fuller destination visit rather than a single-purpose gaming trip.
How Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort compares locally
Directory comparison: Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort vs nearby venues
We track 3 properties in Hot Springs. The comparison below uses directory data only — machine counts and hours should still be confirmed with each casino.
| Property | Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort
This property
| ||
|---|---|---|---|
| City | Hot Springs | West Memphis | Pine Bluff |
| Address | 2705 Central Ave, Hot Springs | 1550 Ingram Blvd, West Memphis | Pine Bluff, AR |
| Games in directory | 12 game types | 9 game types | 1 game types |
| Live poker room | No | No | No |
| Hotel / resort | Yes | No | No |
| Open 24/7 (tag) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Table games (reported) | 32 | — | — |
| Gaming machines (reported) | 1530 | — | — |
| Read more | This page | Visit page | Visit page |
How top Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort peers in Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort compare on amenities
| Amenity / Game | Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort | Southland Casino Racing | Saracen Casino Resort |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🎰 Slot Machines | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 🃏 Table Games | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| ♠️ Poker Room | — | — | — |
| 🎱 Bingo | — | — | — |
| 🖥️ Video Poker | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| 🍽️ Restaurant | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 🏨 Hotel / Resort | ✓ | — | — |
| 🏊 Pool | ✓ | — | — |
| 🕐 Open 24/7 | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| 🅿️ Free Parking | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| 🚗 Valet Parking | — | ✓ | — |
What the directory data shows
Strengths and gaps inferred from games, features, and peer count in our CSV-backed directory — not a substitute for a property visit.
Strengths
3- 12 game types listed in our directory
- Hotel or resort amenity on file
- On-site dining tag in directory
Watch-outs
2- No dedicated poker room in directory tags
- 3 venues in Hot Springs; compare amenities in the table below
2705 Central Ave, Hot Springs, AR 71901, USA
Hot Springs, AR 71901
Open in Google MapsLicensing & Rules
- Regulator
- Arkansas Racing Commission
- Age Requirement
- 21+
- Sportsbook
- Legal
History & Ownership
Oaklawn Jockey Club, Inc., owned by the Cella family, has operated the Oaklawn race track since 1904. That continuous operation makes Oaklawn one of the longest-running thoroughbred tracks in the United States and one of the anchoring institutions in Hot Springs’ history as a resort and entertainment destination.
Casino gaming was added to the property after Arkansas voters approved the 2018 constitutional amendment authorizing casino gaming at four locations statewide, with Oaklawn as one of the designated sites. The Arkansas Racing Commission assumed regulatory authority over both the racing and the casino operations. The pairing of over a century of racing history with a newly authorized full casino creates a genuinely unusual property in American gaming.
