The First Tennessee Sports Betting Handle and Revenue Update

Tennesse Sports Betting Tax Revenue Update

The Tennesee Education Lottery has released some numbers for this first week of live online sports betting in the state! Sports betting was legalized back in December, but it has taken the Lottery’s commission an extremely long time to figure out regulation and licensing agreements. November 1st was the long-awaited launch day.

On the first day of betting, the online sportsbooks collected $5.1 million in sports betting wagers, ending the day with an adjusted gross income of $800k and earning Michigan $160k in tax revenue. A massive amount of cash for a single day out of the Volunteer State.

Through November 8th, Tennessee’s total sports handle reached $27.4 million, and the sportsbooks took home an adjusted gross income of $2.5 million, leading to $509k total tax revenue for the State of Tennessee through one week of play.

These are some incredible numbers. This puts the state on track for around $2 million in tax revenue for a single month, and the best is yet to come. The sportsbooks in Tennessee are still working on bettor acquisition, and many in the Volunteer State are probably not even aware that you can bet on sports yet.

On top of all this, these are numbers that Tennesee is seeing during a severe pandemic where disposable income is most likely relatively low. This is an excellent example of what sports betting can do for a state’s balance books.

Tennessee Sportsbooks & Information

Tennessee’s entire operation is mobile and online, meaning that there is no place to bet in the state physically. While an interesting move, it most likely will have little to no effect on the handle. Especially when considering the fact that this pandemic is showing why online and mobile wagering is superior. In states where there is physical sports betting, it has hardly made a difference in the revenue. For example, in Illinois, it is currently only accounting for 3-5% of the handle.

Tennessee launched with four total sportsbooks. The big dogs were FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM, who partnered with the Tennesee Titans. A local sportsbook named Action 24/7 also opened its doors with the other three on November 1st.

Having such prestigious and renowned sportsbooks has surely been helping Tennessee with producing such a profitable first week of betting. It is also NFL season, the highest season when it comes to sports betting handle. All of these things are pieces to the pie of success for Tennessee. However, it cannot be stressed enough that this is no normal year, and most experts see these projections as low.

Giving Tennessee a year to grow its userbase, get the economy back on track, and have a full slate of normal sports, could lead to some absurdly high revenue for the state. One thing to also note is that college football is legal to bet on with no restrictions on placing wagers for in-state schools. This has most likely helped the handle and will increase a ton next year when the CFB season, hopefully, returns to normal.

Tennessee has started out on the right foot and is on its way to becoming a major hub for sports wagering.