Latest Tennessee Sports Betting Handle and Taxes Information

By Christopher Boan

@cgboan

August 8, 2025 02:32pm

The experts at BetTennessee.com have developed this guide to help you better understand the terms used when discussing Tennessee sports betting handle and taxes. 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, July vs. June

The typical mid-summer sports betting drought bit Tennessee wagering operators in July. There was a 14.9% drop month-over-month in the two categories reported in the Volunteer State, with $298,751,466 in gross handle and $5,513,184 in taxes reported during the seventh month of the calendar year.

Overall, the handle represented a decrease from June’s gross handle of $350,943,907 in figures that the Tennessee Sports Wagering Council reported on Aug. 8. The tax collected was down the same percent from June’s tax bill of $6,476,661, illustrating the dire straits that operators find themselves in during the leaner summer months.

The year-over-year data was a bit rosier in Tennessee, with a 10% increase in gross handle from the $271,538,207 reported in 2024 to $298,751,466 in 2025, showcasing the state’s growth in the legal sports wagering market.

The Council no longer reports gross payout or income data (those numbers stopped two years ago) so these two data points are the only ones available to the public. Still, what numbers we do have available demonstrate how slim the pickings really are during the non-football portion of the calendar year. But NCAA and NFL action will be back in store before long, with the Tennessee Volunteers, Memphis Tigers, Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders and Vanderbilt Commodores all hitting the field in a few weeks. The Tennessee Titans are already playing preseason games and the real NFL season starts in early September.

Tennessee Mobile Sports Betting History