Tennessee sports betting industry reaches $180m in revenues in December

Online sports betting started in Tennessee late last year and so far, the industry continues to gain momentum. In December, reports showed that $180 million wagers were placed. With this figure, the industry saw the best first two-months in the history of sports betting in the United States. Tennessee is a unique market as they only offer online gaming, as the state does not have any land-based venues. Analysts questioned how well the state would fare without retail outlets, but reports show that the market is doing just fine.

December Earnings

Last month, bettors placed a total of $180.9 million in bets. The Tennessee Education Lottery report showed that the totals were much higher than the $131.4 million earned in November. Operators earned $13.9 million from the bets, which was a bit more than the $13.2 million from the previous month. December provided $3.1 million to the state.

So far, the state has generated over $312 million in wagers, this is the most bets placed in any legalized jurisdiction for sports betting in the nation. The original record holder was Indiana, which earned $126.9 million in that time frame.

PlayTenn.com analyst Jessica Celman commented on the success, stating that Tennessee launched online sports betting with a lot of question marks in place. Operators were slow to get started in the state, as many were concerned about the 10% hold mandate. There were also questions as to if the state’s Education Lottery would be able to regulate the industry properly.

The performance of the industry clearly shows that everyone is all-in, from the operators and the Lottery to the players themselves.

Moving Forward

When the industry first started, reports showed that around $27 million in bets were placed in the first eight days of operation. This produced around $509,000 in taxes. The first day saw over $5 million wagers placed.

New operators will continue to be added to the industry over time, as the state approves more licensing applications. Earlier this month, Churchill Downs was given conditional approval to start offering services in the state.

The operator was approved not long after FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM and Tennessee Action 24/7 were approved for operation.