by Jon Styf
Tennessee collected $8.2 million in taxes on $445.2 million of gross wagers in October, an increase in both categories from a year before.
In October 2022, $7 million was collected on $405 million of gross wagers.
That’s a change from September, when the state collected $1 million less in taxes compared to a year before despite an increase in bets from $420 million in gross wagers in September compared to $337 million in gross wagers in September 2022.
Tennessee levies a 1.85 percent tax on gross handle, which replaced a 20 percent tax on adjusted gross income that was in place until July.
Last week, the state’s Sports Wagering Council presented privilege tax estimates to Tennessee’s State Funding Board that showed a projected dip in this fiscal year’s tax collections. Tennessee collected $82.1 million in privilege tax on mobile sports wagers last fiscal year with $78.8 million projected this fiscal year and projections of $82.7 million next fiscal year before reaching a projected $86.9 million in taxes next year.
Tennessee sends 80 percent 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 percent goes to the state’s Department of Mental Health.
That means $37.1 million went to the Lottery for Education fund in 2021-22, $65.7 million in 2022-23, $63 million projected for 2023-24, $66.2 million projected in 2024-25 and $69.5 million projected in 2025-26.
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Jon Styf is a staff reporter at The Center Square.
