Tennessee’s sportsbooks handled $176.3 million in February, according to Tennessee Lottery figures.
The handle was a 16.6% decline from $211.3 million in January. While February had the Super Bowl, it also marked the end of the football season. Other top sports betting markets in the country have seen a month-over-month decline between January and February, so Tennessee is not an outlier here.
The $176.3 million in February handle included $15.5 million in wagers on the Super Bowl.
The Tennessee books retained $13 million in adjusted gross income during February. They paid $2.6 million in taxes from that February income. The rest of the handle was returned to bettors.
The market launched on Nov. 1, 2020. The first four months (November through February) of wagering generated just shy of $700 million in handle. There were just four books for the first four months, with additional books launching this month. There are now six live in the state.
No other information available from Tennessee
Sports betting is still new to Tennessee, and so is casino-style gaming. There are no casinos of any kind, and there is no wagering on horse races either (a bill to legalize that died recently). The state has a lottery and sports betting, and that’s pretty much it.
Regulators at the Lottery were in uncharted territory when implementing the 2019 Sports Gaming Act.
The industry is still very much evolving in Tennessee, but for now it remains one of the least transparent states with regards to releasing information to the public.
The monthly reports contain no information by operator and no information by sport. Most states release betting figures for each operator and some breakdown by sport. Michigan is like Tennessee in not giving information by sport, but it does for each operator.
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