Another Month Of Record Electronic Wagers At Oaklawn

March 2012 was the best month of electronic wagers ever for Hot Springs-based Oaklawn, and counterpart Southland in West Memphis recorded its second largest wager month in history.

Oaklawn Park and Southland Park are the only two venues allowed to offer casino-style gambling in Arkansas, although certain aspects of the games are electronic. Electronic games of skill (EGS) wagers include video blackjack, poker, slot machines and other games.

Oaklawn’s EGS wagers eclipsed $90.2 million in March, up 58% from a year ago. Payouts reached $84.1 million during the month.

Southland reported EGS wagers of $164.2 million, just shy of last month’s record coin-in of $173.7 million. March’s totals were up 73% from the previous year. Payouts topped $153.4 million during the month.

For the first quarter of 2012, electronic gambling at Oaklawn and Southland are a combined $706 million. At the current pace, EGS wagers could exceed $2.8 billion in 2012.

For all of 2011, electronic wagers at the two casinos totaled $1,967,757,846, just $32.2 million short of $2 billion.