Tennessee Collected $7M In Taxes On $380M In Sports Wagers In February
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The Center Square [By Jon Styf] –
Tennessee collected nearly $7 million in taxes on more than $380 million worth of sports wagers placed in the state in February.
That compares to nearly $6.4 million in taxes on $327 million in wagers in February 2023, which included one less day than February 2024, and $3 million in February 2022.
Tennessee stopped reporting the adjusted gross income of the state’s collective sportsbooks midway through 2023 and does not report data from individual sportsbooks.
Tennessee is the only state with legalized sports wagering that does not report how much the sportsbooks make on bets monthly.
Sports Wagering Council Executive Director Mary Beth Thomas recently estimated in a budget hearing that 1.5 to 2.0 million individuals placed legal sports wagers in the state over the past year.
Tennessee levies a 1.85% tax on gross handle, which replaced a 20% tax on adjusted gross income that was in place until July.
Tennessee sends 80% of its sports wagering taxes to the Lottery for Education Fund to pay for things such as the Hope Scholarship while 15% goes to the general fund of local governments and 5% goes to the state’s Department of Mental Health.
1.84%? If Tennessee can’t get at least a 10% commission on gross receipts, we should get rid of this VICE!
The Tennessee legislature sold it’s collective souls to the devil himself when they ‘legalized’ gambling and the lottery. So that when the people gamble and bet on their own – that is illegal, but when the state can sanction, even encourage immoral behavior at the risk of breaking up marriages and families…well, that’s ok! Tennessee legislature showed that they are morally corrupt if not financially corrupt when they ‘legalized’ state sanctioned gambling and lottery, profiting off its low income citizens pocketbooks, but ‘it’s all for the kids’! Shameful.