Just how much information a monthly revenue report offers can vary wildly from state to state. Some states break down everything by operator and even include money spent on each sport. Some only offer high-level numbers and do not disclose how operators are performing at all.
Tennessee has always been a state with a relatively limited sports betting revenue report. However, now that the new tax policy is in effect taxing hold rather than revenue, the scant report is now even smaller. This is the entirety of what the Tennessee Lottery’s Sports Betting Council released for the July report:
Previously, the state had provided revenue numbers in addition to handle and taxes. With the omission, it is now the most opaque revenue report in the country.
With the omission, most notably, it will be difficult to tell how much money is gained or last in tax dollars with the shift to taxing 1.85% of handle instead of 20% on gross gaming revenue. As local reporter Jon Styf of the Center Square noted on Twitter, this lack of transparency was something that did not come up during the process of changing the law:
Without knowing revenue figures for this month, it is impossible to do an apples-to-apples comparison. However, looking at July 2022, the state assessed $3.7 million in taxes on $18.3 million in adjusted gross revenue. The state took in $182.8 million in handle, which means handle was up 17.9% YoY.
Had the handle law been in effect last year, the state would have collected $3.4 million in taxes.
