TN Collects Record $8.7M In Taxes In September Sports Betting After Rule Change
Image Credit: PlayTenn.com & Thomas R Machnitzki / CC
The Center Square [By Jon Styf] –
Tennessee collected $8.7 million in taxes on $336.9 million in sports wagers in September, according to new numbers from the state’s Sports Wagering Advisory Council.
The taxes are more than the state has collected in a month since wagering opened in November 2020. The previous high was $5.9 million collected in November 2021.
The $336.9 million in wagering was the sixth largest month since wagering began, with the previous high being $386 million wagered in January 2022.
Tennessee collects 20% of the industry’s net operator revenue in taxes. Of the sports gambling taxes, 80% of the taxes collected from sports gambling goes to education, 15% goes to the state for distribution to local governments and 5% goes toward mental health programs.
The council expected the tax numbers to rise after the committee issued a memo to sportsbooks this summer stating that, starting July 1, it would be creating new standards for how earnings are reported and how the taxes are calculated.
The June 15 memo defined how sportsbooks need to calculate profit numbers, including how it pertains to promotional bets given to gamblers as deposit bonuses, odds boosts, free bets and more.
The committee is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. on Oct. 24, when it is expected to review the license renewals for the state’s first four sportsbook operators in Action 24/7, BetMGM, FanDuel and DraftKings. The state currently has 11 active sportsbook operators with BallyBet and Fubo Sportsbook approved but not yet operational.
About the Author: Jon Styf, The Center Square Staff Reporter – Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies. Follow Jon on Twitter @JonStyf.
Everything about our state’s gambling laws is shameful….from the beginning of state endorse lottery passage to our current illusion, the proverbial foot of illegal gambling was in the door. Now, we are inundated issues as a result, not to mention, the fact that every dollar sent to the state means that dollar is DOA! It is not stimulating our economy, not being spent on families, housing, groceries, fuel, travel, ad nausea. It is sickening to me! So strange to listen to the radio, and being bombarded with commercials that entice Tennesseans to a death spiral of gambling, when just a few years ago it was ALL ILLEGAL! Again, SHAME ON YOU LEGISLATORS! I’ve said all along this means that there’ll be more crime, more broken families and overdrawn checkbooks! And true to form, crime is rising Tennessee and so are broken families – SHAME on every single legislator that sold us out when they voted on this legislation! It’s great for those like me who’ve yet to even play the lottery, much less call a 1-800 number to place a bet ! YET in all this, the State of Tennessee collects a record $8.7 million in tax dollars – in what world is this ok? It is most certainly not ok in my world and I’ll take it to the voting booth! If we had real, God fearing conservative leadership in our state we’d end this onslaught of wickedness before it wreeks the sure end that it always has!