Tennessee January Sports Betting Handle Surpasses $465 Million

Tennessee sportsbooks released their sports betting reports for January 2024, and the market has boomed. With $465,810,583 in gross wagers, the Volunteer State saw a 13.4% increase in handle compared to this time in 2023. The online-only betting market did see a slight 5.6% dip in activity compared to December’s $495,067,783.

Tennessee Sports Betting Breakdown

The report released by the Tennessee Sports Wagering Council shows that the state collected $8,596,621 in tax revenue for the month. Tennessee is the only market that taxes on betting handle as opposed to revenue.

Despite this being the third consecutive month of decreases in betting activity, Tennessee’s January has been impressive. December and November of 2023 were simply record-setting wagering months, not likely to be maintained as the football season reached its climax. The year-over-year growth from 2023 tells the real story of the strong betting market.

Since Tennessee no longer releases the revenue numbers for its sportsbooks, it is hard to say if the switch to taxing handle has been a success. Tennessee did see more tax revenue for January 2024 than it did for January 2023. Specifically, tax revenue is up more than $1 million compared to the $7,269,600 in 2023.

Before, sportsbooks were taxed at 20% of revenue, and now they are taxed at 2% of handle. For Tennessee to have collected the $8.5 million in taxes via the previous model, sportsbooks would have needed a roughly 9% hold rate for $43 million in revenue.

Tennessee Expected To Continue Strong

Even with the end of football season, Tennessee sportsbooks have another wave of sports betting to look forward to. March Madness will be a major betting season in the Volunteer State. Tennessee locals embrace their local collegiate programs, and the Tennessee Volunteers are currently ranked 4th in the Southeastern Conference for men’s basketball.

Tennessee is home to several D1 athletic programs that will surely bring out the local betting fanbase. Additionally, Tennessee is also home to the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA, which will keep local fans interested in betting through the regular season. The recent uptick in betting in Tennessee won’t be slowing down anytime soon.