Tennessee Sets Sports Betting Record
The Tennessee Education Lottery has announced its sports betting totals for the month of October and it was a record-setting month for the state. The total sports betting handle came in at $375.3 million to shatter the previous record, and show a growth of nearly 46 percent month-over-month.
Massive Jump
The start of the 2021 NFL season was expected to bring a boost to the state, but it was unclear just how much growth would come in the first month. Not only did the state see a massive jump in the total handle but adjusted gross income and tax revenue also went up.
The gross income from sports betting was $17.2 million, which was an increase from the $16.6 million total in September. The privilege tax was only a slight increase up to 3.4%, but it’s still a good sign that this is going in the right direction.
September was the best month in US sports betting history, but October is shaping up to be even better. There were close to a dozen states that set records in September, and four have already established new records for October.
Indiana posted a monthly sports betting handle of $461.1 million to set a new record, while Iowa also shattered the previous mark with a total handle of $280.9 million in October.
This massive jump in Tennessee should keep the state in the top-10 in the US, but it’s going to be a month at least before all of the totals are in.
Local Teams Driving Betting
The Tennessee sports betting law allows for betting on both college and professional sports. The University of Tennessee, and the SEC, has helped bring in plenty of action on college football to allow the state to continue to grow.
The Tennessee Titans are currently in first place in the AFC South Division and they remain a popular team to wager on in the state. October also saw the Memphis Grizzlies and Nashville Predators begin play last month, and both teams contributed to the success.
There are still a handful of potential operators waiting to be approved to offer sports betting in the state. Adding new sportsbooks should provide another boost to the market., but it’s unclear when growth will take place
Year One Was a Massive Success
As sports betting officially started on November 1 in Tennessee, the state has now hit the one year anniversary. Sports betting in Tennessee exceeded expectations and actually set some records in the process.
The total handle for the first year was over $2 billion, and Tennessee was the fifth-fastest state to accomplish this. The actual total in the first 12 months was $2.335 billion, putting the Volunteer State in some elite company.
The only four states that were able to get to $2 billion faster were, Colorado, Illinois, Virginia, and New Jersey.
