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Tennessee’s July Sports Betting Figures Drop

Perry Sandra

Updated on August 11, 2023 at 4:07 PM EDT • Read time: 1 minute and 63 seconds. Find more on Twitter and Google News.

Tennessee mascot Davy Crockett carries the flag across the end zone during a game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers as we look at the July numbers for Tennessee.
Tennessee mascot Davy Crockett carries the flag across the end zone during a game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers. Donald Page/Getty Images/AFP.

In July, Tennessee concluded its first full month under a new tax policy for legal sports betting, which featured top sportsbooks. The most notable aspect was not the usual summer betting decline, but rather the insufficient information provided in the monthly report by the Tennessee Lottery Sports Betting Council.

Tennessee has consistently ranked as one of the least transparent states when it comes to sharing information about its mobile-only legal sports betting platform and top sports betting apps. However, the earnings report released in July set a new standard for lack of public disclosure.

This is the complete appearance of the gaming report.

The changes seen in July

Starting on July 1, the Tennessee sports betting industry began taxing gross revenue instead of adjusted gross income for the 12 Tennessee sports betting apps. This change means that a 1.85% tax will be applied to the total wagers taken in by the state’s providers, rather than the previous 20% tax on sportsbook adjusted gross income. The taxation of sportsbook gross income has become the norm in most, if not all, U.S. legal sports betting jurisdictions.

Seems logical!

However, as a result of the new rules, the state’s Sports Wagering Council (SWC) – previously known as the Sports Wagering Advisory Council (SWAC) – decided to stop reporting the total gross revenue of the entire sports betting industry in Tennessee.

The lack of July revenue figures creates a challenge in evaluating the performance of Tennessee sports betting providers for that month. Comparing the July 2023 numbers with previous data is now impossible due to the new regulations allowing widespread mobile-only sports betting in the state.

The absence of reported figures has led to unexpected scrutiny on the SWC, highlighting a lack of transparency in the Volunteer State.

Getting into the numbers

The Tennessee Sports Wagering Council’s July report shows that a total of $215,489,157 was wagered during the month, resulting in a gross handle of $214,114,055 after adjustments.

This represents a decrease of nearly $15 million from the $230.34 million wagered in the state during June, but still reflects a significant year-over-year increase of 17.9% from the $182.77 million bet in July 2022.

Currently, we lack the means to accurately measure the extent to which the gross revenue of the state’s 12 mobile providers has either increased or decreased on a monthly or yearly basis.

In July, Tennessee sports betting apps paid $3,951,411 in taxes. This amount decreased from $4,635,761 in June but increased from $3,668,804 in July 2022.

According to Tennessee’s July 2023 monthly sports gaming report, if the new laws had been in place in July 2022, the state would have collected approximately $3.4 million in taxes last month, instead of the $3.669 million it actually did.

Where does it leave Tennessee?

The legal sports betting industry in Tennessee will continue to move forward, despite the alterations in regulations concerning the reporting of monthly earnings by regulators.

However, it is expected that there will be greater scrutiny on the methods regulators have used to publish their monthly reports.

Could the lack of transparency become a growing concern? For those who rely on comparing monthly and yearly data, the answer is definitely yes.

Written By:
Perry Sandra
Perry Sandra and betting go hand-in-hand. Both are characterized by “odds”. Dave fancies himself as one of the most dedicated sports and pop-culture junkies around, to the chagrin of his family and friends. Following sports for 50 years and writing about it for 20, Dave hasn’t found a sport yet that can’t contribute to 2-3 straight hours of couch time. That search remains ongoing. As a good old Canadian boy, hockey is in Dave’s heart, as is curling sadly. But evolution is a real thing and that’s why football, baseball, and just about every sport on the planet has become a passion. Dave isn’t afraid to kill some time obsessing over politics or the far-too-frequent awards shows the consume the airwaves.