Tennessee’s Sports Wagering Advisory Council reported a solid handle figure of nearly $313.3 million for the month of February. But operator revenue was not as strong, possibly because bettors fared relatively well when it came to Super Bowl wagering.
The Volunteer State’s nine digital operators reported a combined gross gaming revenue of $20.9 million, with the 6.7% hold the second lowest of the 16 months Tennessee has had legalized sports betting. Only the 6.1% win rate last October was lower, and those are the only two months operators failed to hit the industry standard of 7%.
The state requires operators to reach a 10% hold on gross gaming revenue, though recent rule changes allow them to make a true-up payment rather than be fined by the SWAC.
Down month-over-month, up year-over-year
It is no surprise handle was down month-over-month 18.8% from January’s record of $386 million with three fewer days of wagering available. The handle was the fifth-highest total overall and did represent a 77.7% increase compared to February 2021.
Both the gross and adjusted revenue holds were 2.7 percentage points lower than January’s win rates of 9.4% and 7.5%, respectively, leaving the adjusted win rate at 4.8%. Gross revenue tumbled 42.2% from January’s figure of $36.2 million but was 61.8% higher than the comparable number from February 2021.
Top 10 #SportsBetting Handle by state since May 2018 (Feb in CAPS):
1 NEW JERSEY: $25.12B
2 Nevada: $21.88B
3 PENNSYLVANIA: $13.03B
4 Illinois: $9.77B
5 INDIANA: $6.94B
6 Colorado: $5.61B
7 MICHIGAN: $5.05B
8 TENNESSEE: $3.74B <–NEW
9 Virginia: $3.7B
10 NEW YORK: $3.58B— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) March 21, 2022
Operators reported more than $5.8 million in promotional payments for February, raising that total to just shy of $13 million for the first two months of the year. Adjusted revenue totaled $15.1 million, 48% lower than the previous month, but representing a year-over-year increase of 17.8%. Tennessee taxes adjusted revenue at 20%, which resulted in slightly more than $3 million for the state’s coffers.
The Volunteer State has collected more than $8.8 million in tax receipts thus far in 2022, nearly $2 million ahead of the pace established last year. In January Tennessee became the quickest state in the post-PASPA era to surpass $50 million in tax receipts from launch, reaching the benchmark in 15 months, and has generated close to $54 million overall.
The SWAC does not break out handle and revenue by either operator or sport. It did not disclose any wagering figures regarding Super Bowl LVI, but three of the four large-market states that did report both handle and revenue — Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania — each had a win rate of 8.6% or lower.
