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.
| Total Handle | Privilege tax |
September | $520.835M | $9.612M |
August | $342.021M | $6.312M |
Change | Up 52.3% | Up 52.3% |
Note: Tennessee’s sports betting market is all mobile. The state no longer reports monthly revenue, only handle and taxes.
Tennessee saw a huge bump in handle for September as football season got underway, and the financial figure broke a record in the process.
September’s sports betting gross handle, as reported by the Tennessee Sports Wagering Council, was $520,834,560 in September, a 52.3% increase over August ($342,021,374) in a month-over-month comparison.
That was a 24.6% boost in a year-over-year comparison against September 2023 (when the handle was $418,063,447) and the amount wagered broke the record of $515,512,604 that had stood since November 2023.
September’s privilege tax was $9,612,392, up 52.3% from August ($6,311,946) and breaking the record of $9,513,707, again set in November 2023.
Information on payouts and revenue (called adjusted gross income) is no longer available from the TSWC. The state began taxing sports betting based on handle, not revenue, in summer 2023. When the state did that, it ceased reporting revenue derived from sports wagering.
Tennessee no longer releases its revenue figures every month, instead, they share handle and tax info and the data is posted on the state’s Sports Wagering Council’s website (tn.gov/swac).
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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.