by Jon Styf
Tennessee set records again for sports wagering in December with $440.4 million in bets placed.
That led to $9.4 million in taxes paid, ahead of the $9 million collected in November. That’s up from $3.3 million in taxes collected with $341.8 million in bets in December 2021.
Tennessee collects 20% of the industry’s net operator revenue in taxes. Of the sports gambling taxes, 80% of the taxes collected from sports gambling goes to education, 15% goes to the state for distribution to local governments and 5% goes toward mental health programs.
The state’s online sports wagering operators had $47 million in adjusted gross income in December, making $391.3 million in payouts on the $440.4 million in wagers.
The previous high in bets was $439.5 million wagered in November. Late 2022 had consistently the highest numbers since online sports wagering opened in November 2020.
The state collected $8.7 million in taxes in September. October was the next highest at nearly $7 million.
December, November and October were the three highest months in terms of the amount wagered in the state. Next was January 2022, with $386.1 million wagered.
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies. Styf is a reporter for The Center Square.Â
Photo “Parx Casino Sportsbook” by Dough4872. CC BY-SA 4.0.
What a way to fund a government. One has to wonder how many kids went hungry so mommy and daddy could gamble. Or how many could not even pay the electric or water bill. Bragging about higher gambling levels in order to brag about taxes collected makes me want to puke.