Tennessee releases July gambling numbers without revealing sportsbooks’ profit

(The Center Square) – Tennessee’s Sports Wagering Council released the state’s July numbers this week, showing the state collected nearly $4 million in privilege taxes.

But those numbers no longer include any information on how much money the state’s sportsbooks made.

July marked the first month of a new taxing structure for Tennessee sportsbooks, assessing a 1.85% tax on gross wagers instead of the previous 20% tax on the sportsbooks’ adjusted gross income.

But, in reporting the July numbers, the SWC no longer reported the sportsbooks’ adjusted gross income and instead simply reported how much money was placed on mobile sports bets in the state and the calculated tax from that.

The new reporting method for the SWAC also prevents the public from comparing the new taxing structure to what would have been collected under the previous format.

For the first six months of 2023, the state collected more in taxes under the old system than it would have collected under the new system.

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.