Tennessee‘s 13 digital sportsbooks administered a historic pounding to bettors in the month of August in posting a 13.2% win rate, according to figures released late Thursday by the state’s Sports Wagering Advisory Council.
It was just the fifth time in 22 months of sports wagering in the Volunteer State the house had a 10% or better hold, and August’s percentage demolished the previous record of 10.5% set in June 2021.
State rules require sportsbooks to achieve a 10% hold. If they fail to do so, they can be fined $25,000 or opt to make a privilege tax payment equal to the difference between what they would have paid had they adhered to the hold and what they actually paid. The 10% hold has been a sore spot for operators, considering the industry standard nationally is 7%.
The strong performance allowed the mobile operators to claim $27.2 million in gross revenue from $205.9 million wagered. The handle represented a 12.6% increase from July’s $182.8 million and was 42.5% higher than the $144.5 million in wagers accepted in August 2021. Year-to-date handle has totaled more than $2.2 billion, 60.3% higher compared to the same period last year.
August #SportsBetting numbers for #Tennessee via SWARC, a 🧵. 2022 vs 2021 YTD
Handle: $2,228,374,572 (⬆️60.3%)
GGR: $199,404,425 (⬆️54.1%)
GGR WR: 8.95% (⬇️0.35 pts)
AGR: $169,571,037 (⬆️44.1%
AGR WR: 7.61% (⬇️0.85 pts)
Taxes: $33,914,207 (⬆️$10,354,2073/x #GamblingTwitter
— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) September 15, 2022
With the win rate on gross revenue more than three percentage points higher than in July, the month-over-month revenue increase was 49.7%. Adjusted revenue was 32.9% higher, as that hold increased slightly less than two full percentage points. Both gross and adjusted revenue totals were more than double the totals of August 2021.
Promotional credits and adjustments totaled more than $2.8 million, which left the state eligible to levy tax on nearly $24.4 million. The state received nearly $4.9 million in tax receipts for August, lifting the total for the year to more than $33.9 million. That is running $10.3 million ahead of last year’s pace through eight months, and Tennessee also became the seventh state in the post-PASPA era to surpass $75 million in state taxes since launch.
The Sports Wagering Advisory Council does not disclose handle and revenue figures either by operator or sport category.
