The combination of a full football month and the most mobile Arkansas sports betting options available so far made for a strong month for wagering in October.
The total sports betting handle last month was $26,879,107, up 26.9% from the $21.2 million wagered in September. The October total was a state record for amount bet on sports, breaking the September mark that only stood for a month.
The mobile sports betting handle rose even more sharply, from $15.73 million in September to $20,729,197 in October, a 31.8% spike.
Why October Was Up So Much
There were a few reasons for this rise. First, the Oaklawn Racing Casino is now fully underway with its mobile sports betting app in partnership with the Kambi Group. That means all three casinos in Arkansas – Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Southland Casino in West Memphis and Saracen Casino in Pine Bluff – now offer wagering on sporting events via mobile, laptop or desktop devices.
Also, October was a perfect month for peak sports betting interest – because it was a 31-day month beginning on a Saturday, it had five college football Saturdays, five NFL Sundays and five Monday Night Football NFL matchups. Add in postseason baseball, plus the NBA and NHL seasons getting underway, and it’s easy to see why October was so busy at sportsbooks.
The sports betting net win was $2,793,719 in October, a 12.9% decrease from the $3.2 million in the September Arkansas casino revenue report. The revenue derived from mobile sports betting was $1,986,966, a 15.1% drop from $2.34 million the previous month.
Arkansas Sports Betting, October vs. September
Arkansas Casino Numbers Steady
The one drawback in Arkansas as far as sports bettors are concerned is that, because of a state law stating that sportsbooks must share 51% of their profits with the state, major national operators such as Caesars Sportsbook, BetMGM and DraftKings have stayed away from the market.
But for the three casinos in the Natural State, the action for card games, slots and the like continues to be steady.
The October casino handle was $575,374,643, up 0.1% from September’s $574.9 million. Revenue was down very slightly, dipping 0.6%, from $44.1 million in September to $43,833,719 last month.
It will be interesting to see if the latest offering for Arkansas gambling results in more handle. Saracen is offering the first multi-state slot machine in the market with its Wheel of Fortune game.
This month, Little Rock TV station KARK reported that the casino game joined a progressive slots network in which bettors in multiple states add to the total stake each time they wager.
The casinos in the state offer not only slots but also tradition card games and more, and those forms of gaming are much less seasonal – unlike sports betting, which rises and falls dramatically depending on which sports are playing at any given time.
If major national sportsbooks join the Arkansas betting scene, we will have Arkansas sports betting promo codes that you can use right here at BetArkansas.com.
