Latest Tennessee Sports Betting Revenue and Handle Information
The experts at BetTennessee.com have developed this guide to help you better understand the terms used when discussing Tennessee sports betting revenue and handle. The state releases those figures monthly.
Tennessee lawmakers passed a bill to legalize sports betting in April 2019, and the law officially took effect on July 1, 2019. The first sportsbooks opened in the state in November 2020. The Volunteer State was the first to legalize online wagering only and exclude brick-and-mortar establishments from setting up shop.
Currently, there are 13 operators, some with Tennessee sportsbook promos available, licensed to take wager in the state. The most recent was ZenSports, which was approved in May 2023.
Tennessee Sports Betting, April vs. March
| Total Handle | Privilege tax |
April | $380.904M | $7.029M |
March | $471.988M | $8.710M |
Change | Down 19.3% | Down 19.3% |
Note: Tennessee’s sports betting market is all mobile. The state no longer reports monthly revenue, only handle and taxes.
Tennessee sports betting slowed down in April as the state’s Sports Wagering Advisory Council reported licensed online operators took $380,904,093 in bets for the month. That was down 19.3% from March ($471,988,272), which benefitted from the NCAA college basketball tournaments.
Still, on a year-to-year basis, April’s handle was 19.6% higher than what the state reported for the same month last year. The handle, or amount wagered, was $318.4 million in April 2023.
State taxes for April were $7,029,494. Since Tennessee now generates its tax off of the handle and not revenue, the tax receipts were also down by 19.3%. In April 2023, when the state still collected a 20% tax on adjusted gross revenues, the state received $6,435,653.
The change in the handle tax went into effect last July. Had the handle tax been in effect last April, Tennessee would have received $5,890,700, a decrease of about 8.5%.
Tennessee no longer reports operator revenues, which is why BetTennessee can no longer update the month-by-month chart below.
Tennessee Mobile Sports Betting History
Tennessee Sports Betting Handle and Revenue FAQs
Tennessee sports betting operators accepted $4.286 billion in wagers in 2023. That represented an 11.3% increase from the $3.85 billion in wagers in the state in 2022 at Tennessee sportsbook apps.
When Tennessee lawmakers first legalized sports betting, they established a 20% tax on revenue. However, they passed a new bill during the General Assembly’s 2023 session that will change how the state generates revenue from sports betting. Starting in July 2023, Tennessee is charging a 1.85% tax on the handle, or the amount wagered in a month, minus the 0.25% federal handle excise tax. The Volunteer State is the first sports betting state in the nation to raise revenue in such a fashion. The state no longer reports revenue generated, only handle and taxes.
Tennessee releases its revenue figures every month, and the data is posted on the state’s Sports Wagering Council’s website (tn.gov/swac).
Tennessee dedicates 80% of its sports betting tax revenue to education and 15% to local governments. The remaining 5% helps fund mental health programs in the state. The state collected $68 million in sports betting taxes in 2022. That was up significantly from the $40.7 million the state raised in 2021.
The Tennessee Sports Wagering Council (formerly the Sports Wagering Advisory Council) oversees sports betting in the state and is responsible for licensing operators.
Mobile sports betting is defined as the amount of money wagered through apps on mobile devices or online websites. All the wagers placed in Tennessee are placed through mobile or online devices. Many operators in the state offer Tennessee sports betting promos to customers.
The handle is the amount of money bettors wagered for a specific period. In Tennessee that adds up to hundreds of millions each month. The revenue is what sportsbooks retain after paying out winning wagers.
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The experts at BetTennessee.com who bring you the latest updates in Tennessee sports betting. We pull together decades of experience to give you analysis as well as comparisons of the best TN online gambling apps.