Tennessee sports betting handle reaches $318m in April

Tennessee’s sports betting handle increased by 9 per cent year-over-year.

US.- Bettors in Tennessee wagered $318m on sports in April, according to Tennessee’s Sports Wagering Advisory Council (SWAC). That’s a decrease of 18.9 per cent from March’s $392.6m, but an 8.7 per cent improvement from April 2022’s $292.8m.

Gross payouts declined 18.1 per cent to $284.1m, compared with March’s $347.1m, but up 7 per cent year-on-year (April 2022: $265.6m). Adjusted gross income for the month totaled more than $32.1m, a 26.4 per cent drop from March’s $43.7m but up 38.4 per cent from April 2022 ($23.2m).

The state’s monthly privilege tax exceeded $6.4m, down 26.4 per cent from March’s $8.7m and up 38.4 per cent year-on-year. Since sports gambling started in Tennessee in November 2020, the state has collected $141.6m in taxes on $8.3bn of gross wagers.

Tennessee currently has 12 approved operators and is scheduled to approve a licence for ZenSports at next week’s Sports Wagering Advisory Council meeting.

The April numbers were released just a few days before governor Bill Lee is set to make a final decision on signing legislation that would change the way Tennessee taxes sportsbooks. Lee has until Saturday to sign, veto or let the bill become law without his signature.

Under the new system of a 1.85 per cent tax on gross wagers, the state would have collected $5.9m in taxes in April.

Tennessee currently collects 20 per cent of the industry’s net operator revenue in taxes. Of the sports gambling taxes, 80 per cent of the taxes collected from sports gambling goes to education, 15 per cent goes to the state for distribution to local governments and 5 per cent goes toward mental health programs.