February 27, 1907

A bill entitled “An Act to Prevent Betting in any Manner in This State on any Horse Race” was approved by the state government. This necessitated the closing of Oaklawn Park Racetrack in Hot Springs (Garland County) at the end of the 1907 season and for a decade after that. Even before the Civil War, the former pasture where Oaklawn Park Racetrack now stands was home to impromptu races between local farm boys riding their fastest ponies. Today, the track is Arkansas’s only thoroughbred horse-racing venue and the lone remaining gambling center in a city once known as much for its casinos as for its famous thermal baths.