(The Center Square) – Tennessee saw $8.7 million in privilege tax collections on $473.5 million in wagers in March, according to new numbers from the Tennessee Sports Wagering Council.
That’s up from $392.7 million in gross wagers in March 2023, when $8.8 million in taxes were collected.
Tennessee saw nearly $7 million in taxes on more than $380 million worth of sports wagers in February.
Sports Wagering Council Executive Director Mary Beth Thomas recently estimated in a budget hearing that 1.5 to 2 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.
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.
