The 60-year-old is suspected of breaking into the room of a sports memorabilia dealer at the Palace Station Casino to take back goods he claims had been stolen from him.
Speaking at a press conference, Las Vegas police captain James Dillon said that Mr Simpson would be charged with two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit burglary and burglary with a firearm.
The most serious of the charges, robbery with a deadly weapon, would see the ex-professional sportsman serve a maximum of 35 years in jail if convicted.
Mr Dillon said that another man had been taken into custody in connection with the robbery and that two guns had been seized during a raid on a Las Vegas residence.
Mr Simpson was cleared in 1995 of murdering his ex-wife and her friend in a case which raised questions about the justice system in the United States.
He was later convicted in a civil trial which held him liable for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million (£17 million) in damages to the families of the pair.
News of the robbery comes a few days after the release of a book If I Did It, in which Mr Simpson considers how he may have killed his former wife and her friend Ronald Goldman.
