Saracen Casino Event Center in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Books 13-Time Grammy Winner John Legend
Posted on: February 24, 2026, 08:02h.
Last updated on: February 24, 2026, 08:02h.
- John Legend is coming to Central Arkansas in June
- Legend is booked for the new Saracen Casino Resort Event Center
Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff, AR, will open its more than 1,500-seat concert hall in April with an array of headliners. Its biggest act, however, was booked just this week with 13-time Grammy Award winner John Legend.
Saracen is wrapping up its $250 million expansion of the Arkansas casino that includes the Saracen Event Center and a 14-story, 320-room hotel. Saracen is betting big that its Event Center can make Central Arkansas a regular stop for national headlining tours.
The Saracen Event Center has already booked comedian and former Saturday Night Live star Leslie Jones (April 18), funk legends Kool & The Gang (May 9), hard rock bands Great White & Slaughter (May 16), and country music singer Jake Owen (June 4).
Saracen scored its biggest act to date this week with Legend. John Legend: A Night of Songs & Stories will be on June 13 at 8 pm. Tickets for the show start at $149 before applicable fees. General public sales begin on Friday, Feb. 27, at 10 am CST.
Saracen announced the quarter of a billion-dollar expansion project in August 2024. The Event Center and hotel add 400,000 square feet of indoor space to the property.
Saracen’s Story
Owned and operated by the Quapaw Nation, Saracen was developed through a partnership with Jefferson County. After being allocated a casino development opportunity through a statewide ballot referendum in 2018, local government officials in Jefferson partnered with the tribe based in Oklahoma to develop and run its casino destination.
“Quapaw” means “downstate people,” a word that honors tribal ancestors who moved down the Mississippi River. The word “Saracen” is named after a French-Quapaw man who witnessed the removal of the native Arkansas people to Indian territory in the early 1880s.
Arkansas’ first casino, Saracen opened in October 2020 at a cost of $350 million with 1,600 slot machines, 40 live dealer table games, a poker room, and the BetSaracen Sportsbook. While the Quapaw Tribe owns and operates the casino, the business is a commercial entity.
Saracen Casino Resort additionally features four dining options: the Red Oak Steakhouse, Legends Restaurant, Saracen Sports Bar, and The Post.
Saracen Successes
Saracen has been a roaring success, showing consistent growth over the past five years. Carlton Saffa, the casino’s chief marketing officer, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in January that 2025 was yet another strong 12 months.
Saffa detailed that Saracen continues to focus on its slots. The machines won $164.2 million from gamblers last year, a nearly 9% year-over-year increase, on wagers of $2.15 billion, up almost 10%. Saracen’s oddsmakers added $27.1 million on handle of $322.3 million. Sportsbook revenue surged 14% from the prior year.
Saracen remained the second-richest casino in Arkansas behind Southland in West Memphis. Oaklawn in Hot Springs was third.
Arkansas voters authorized a fourth casino in Pope County in 2018, but that license remains tied up in courts nearly six years later.
The Cherokee Nation is preparing an appeal of a federal ruling last fall that concluded that a 2024 statewide ballot referendum that essentially rescinded the Pope County gaming license didn’t impede the Cherokee’s protected rights under the US Constitution.
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