Tennessee’s November Sports Gambling Tops $500M For The First Time

Tennessee’s Sports Wagering Advisory Council (SWAC) issued its latest report, revealing the state accepted $517.14 million in handle (total bets) in November. It is the first time the Tennessee sports betting exceeded the $500 million handle mark since the launch in November 2020.

As a result, sportsbooks generated $1.63 million in adjustments, an almost 178% increase from the previous month.

High sports betting numbers come as no surprise since they were expected to improve after the start of the 2023 college football and NFL season, which is at its peak now.

Tennessee sports betting handle increased 16% from October

The November sports betting handle of $517.14 million represents a 16.16% monthly increase from the $445.19 million total bets in Tennessee in October 2023. The monthly growth is even higher than the 6.0% monthly rise recorded in October.

The Volunteer State also saw a 17.68% year-over-year increase in handle. Tennessee’s sports betting handle has never been so high since the market launched there years ago.

Here’s a look at Tennessee’s 2023 monthly sports betting handle:

1. January: $410,773,606
2. February: $327,326,201
3. March: $392,667,304
4. April: $318,416,216
5. May: $279,794,996
6. June: $230,337,515
7. July: $215,489,157
8. August: $243,456,822
9. September: $420,006,053
10. October: $445,192,913
11. November: $517,141,377

Tennessee’s November gaming revenue increased monthly

According to SWAC’s November 2023 report, Tennessee sportsbooks took $1.63 million in adjustments in November.

The figure shows a 16.78% increase from the $1.39 million recorded in October. However, the number is a 22.37% year-over-year decrease from the $2.10 million generated in November 2022.

Meanwhile, Tennessee collected a little over $9.51 million in privilege fees, increasing from October (16.16%) to November last year (5.36%).

Tennessee is the only state to tax money gambled on sports

Since July 2023, Tennessee has been the only state taxing its sportsbook operators according to their gross bets (total betting handle).

In doing so, Tennessee implies a 1.85% tax on the total amount of money gambled. Other legal US gambling markets tax operators according to their gross gaming revenue (GGR) or adjusted gross income (AGI). Before July, Tennessee did it, too, at a rate of 20%.

The new tax structure was implemented to eliminate financial risk from the state, making sure Tennessee always receives privileged tax from all sportsbook operators.