Tennessee Breaks Monthly Wagering Record With $375 Million In October

Tennessee continues to break records in the sports betting world after recording $375 million in wagers in October, which is $120 million more than September, according to PlayTenn.com.

In October, Sportsbooks accepted $375.3 million in bets, up 45.9% from the record $257.3 million handle generated in September, according to data released Tuesday during a meeting of the Tennessee Education Lottery and Sports Wagering Advisory Council. Bettors placed $12.1 million in wagers per day over the 31 days of October, up from $8.6 million per day over the 30 days of September.

The increase in betting is likely attributed to the density of NFL, college football, MLB Playoffs and NBA games played during October, according to PlayTenn.com.

“With five full weekends of the NFL and college football, baseball’s postseason, and the start of the NBA season, betting inventory was off the charts,” says Alec Cunningham, an analyst for PlayTenn.com. “The calendar won’t always be so cooperative, but a maturing market will continue to push Tennessee’s industry.”

She continues, “Tennessee is one of the few states with at least one NFL, NBA, and NHL team and multiple Division I football and basketball programs, all of which will be playing full schedules in November. More records will almost certainly fall before the end of the year.”

Gross revenue fell 9.0% to $23.3 million from September’s record of $25.6 million, but that still represented the second-most profitable month for Sportsbooks. The win led to a record $17.2 million in taxable revenue, which yielded $3.4 million in tax revenue.

October’s results pushed the state’s lifetime handle to $2.3 billion since the first Sportsbooks launched in November 2020, making the Volunteer State the fifth-fastest to the $2 billion milestone.

Steven Boero