State sportsbooks dip in July; eyes set on football season

According to Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) data, the state’s sports gambling activity dipped in July, but the most lucrative time of year is just around the corner.

The state’s three sportsbooks in Hot Springs, Pine Bluff and West Memphis took in a collective handle of $17.57 million in July, down 22.6% from June’s total of $22.70 million.

Revenue, however, or the amount sportsbooks retain after paying out winning wagers, was up. The three operators took in $2.07 million during July, up 55.6% from June’s total of $1.3 million.

Analysts at BetArkansas.com said the revenue upswing hopefully signals the beginning of the end of the summer slump.

“The coming months will usher in the most lucrative time of year for sports betting: the start of football season,” the analysts said. “In August and September, expect numbers to rocket across the board and for sportsbooks to recoup from the summer’s sting.”

BetArkansas.com is a portal with Arkansas-related gaming news. It’s owned by North Carolina-based Gambling.com Group Limited (Nasdaq: GAMB), a digital marketing company active in the online gambling industry. The company spent its early years focused on Europe. Since 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled individual states would be allowed to decide whether to legalize sports gambling, Gambling.com made growth in the U.S. a priority and went public in summer 2021.

Arkansas voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing sports betting in November 2018. The first bet was placed at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs in July 2019. Online wagering through mobile devices or website apps started in March 2022.

According to BetArkansas.com data, Arkansans wagered $185.5 million in 2022. Of that, they wagered $122.3 million through online sportsbooks.

Arkansas includes sports betting with casino revenue for tax purposes. The state taxes the first $150 million of casino gaming revenue at 13% and the remainder at 20%.

In July, the state’s tax bill from sports betting was $270,065 overall, up 1.1% from June, $225,910 from mobile wagering.

“While total taxes collected were up marginally, mobile taxes were down about 6.2%, which suggests that while sportsbooks finished the month in the green, that didn’t flow into the state’s accounts this month, possibly due to promotional payouts,” BetArkansas.com analysts said.