The Arkansas Sports Betting Market Continues to Grow

The Arkansas sports betting market is on the verge of reporting exponential year-over-year growth.

And this may be just the beginning.

News of sports betting in Arkansas increasing its revenue stream is not exactly groundbreaking. The same can be said for many markets in the United States. Legal sports betting is more popular than ever. And in the early stages of 2025, the industry shows few signs of slowing down.

Still, annual growth can often be more modest in veteran markets. Arkansas sports betting falls under that umbrella. 

Brick and mortar operations first launched back in November 2018, making it one of the first markets to go live after the United States Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. Then, in 2022, Arkansas online sportsbooks were officially open for business. So, unlike other markets, sports betting isn’t novel in The Land of Opportunity. And while that does not mean we should be expecting stark downswings, demonstrative upticks in volume and revenue aren’t necessarily the standard, either.

Yet, Arkansas has not reached that point with its gambling revenue. And if ongoing attempts to expand prove successful, it may not top out anytime soon.

Arkansas Sports Betting On Track To Shatter Year-Over-Year Revenue

Let us begin with the most recent Arkansas sports betting revenue reports. Entering the end of January 2025, The Land of Opportunity has released data for all but two months from the 2024 calendar year.

In the 10 months of revenue reports available, we can see that Arkansas sports betting has generated over $5.6 million in additional tax revenue. As of now, this represents a 36 percent increase from 2023, when tax revenue came in at just under $4.2 million

This by itself is a pretty big climb. But, again, the full breadth of data isn’t yet available. Revenue from November and December must still be tallied. This means the overall growth is only going to climb.

If we use the average revenue per month in 2024 as a baseline, though, we can ballpark where the final number might end up. Through October, Arkansas sports betting averaged around $564,000 in tax revenue each month. Tack on two more months’ worth of that money to the current total, and you get to nearly $6.8 million in total revenue.

Compare that to 2023, and you are looking at a whopping 61.9 percent year-over-year increase. Make no mistake, in a market as established as Arkansas sports betting, this is a monster single-year ascent.

The Volume Of Sports Betting Is Up, Too

Now, in theory, this type of increase can be an anomaly. After all, tax revenue is directly related to profits reported by online sportsbooks. There is a chance operators just did not have to pay out as many winning bets in 2024 as they did in 2023.

However, it is difficult to assume this stance when the volume of sports betting in Arkansas is on the rise, too. Through the first 10 months of the year, The Land of Opportunity took in approximately $425 million of total wagers. That is a 5.2 percent increase from 2023.

This doesn’t seem so noteworthy. But remember, the state still has two more months’ worth of data to release. If the Arkansas sports betting handle holds to its monthly average for both November and December (roughly $42.5 million), the handle for the entire year will hit $510 million. And that is a much bigger overall increase—a 26.2 percent in total volume, to be exact.

Of course, a 61.9 percent increase in tax revenue compared to a 26.2 percent increase in total volume does suggest there’s a little luck at play. But the overall messaging remains the same. The popularity of online sports betting in the United States keeps climbing, and the Arkansas market is no exception.

Don’t Sleep On Continuing Growth For Arkansas Gambling Revenue

On top of all this, there is a real chance the Arkansas gambling market isn’t yet finished growing at an exponential rate. Even though both online sports betting and retail sports betting are legal, the state still has areas in which it can expand. Most notably, there is a push to legalize online casino gaming in Arkansas that’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

Support for legal online casino gaming is so far mixed. But The Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff, which is leading the charge, has plans to incentivize the measure. As Andrew Mobley of KATV in Little Rock writes:

“To sweeten the deal, Saracen is proposing to create a 50/50 drawing online, half the funds generated from which would go toward NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) funding to recruit athletes to Arkansas' universities. ‘There's this incredible bonus, and that is that we can raise hundreds of thousands of dollars a week to fund the NIL needs at every college in Arkansas,’ Carlton Saffa, Saracen's chief marketing officer, explained.”

It is not clear where the state stands on this approach. The push began in September and continues to be in limbo. But figuring out a way for online gaming to benefit educational programs, including NIL, is historically a sound approach. State officials, as well as residents, are statistically more open to policies following this blueprint.

Regardless, whether online casino gaming in Arkansas takes effect imminently or down the line, it’s clear the gambling market itself is far from hitting its revenue cap.

Take a look at this list of the top online sportsbooks so you can find one that works for all of your sports betting needs: