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Tennessee sports betting shows impressive year-to-year growth
Sports betting in some states are growing faster than others, and Tennessee has shown almost a 50% increase since last June.
Across the United States, the sports betting landscape continues to grow at an impressive rate. While the summer months are the slowest for operators and sports bettors, the industry finds itself in a good place.
When you look across the nation as a whole, you see some impressive year-over-year numbers. States such as Iowa and New York have reported their June betting handles, and on average, the June 2024 numbers are about 25% higher than the numbers in June 2023. That’s an extremely healthy rate of growth that operators are surely happy with.
However, Tennessee’s sports betting industry is growing rapidly and has been since online sports betting was first available in November 2020. When comparing its numbers to the rest of the industry, you can project an extremely viable future for betting in the Volunteer State.
Tennessee handle up nearly 50% year to year
We mentioned earlier that sports betting handles are up nearly 25% across the states that have already reported their June numbers. Overall, the first quarter numbers in 2024 are 22% higher than the first quarter numbers were in 2023.
However, some states are having faster growth than others. In June of 2023, Tennessee took in $230 million worth of sports bets. Fast forward to this past month, and Tennessee operators accepted nearly $345 million in bets. That’s a 49.7% increase year-over-year.
While the summer months are usually bad news for operators, the impact has been far less in Tennessee. With states such as North Carolina, New York and Iowa all reporting betting handles dropped more than 20% from May to June, it’s quite impressive that the Tennessee handle dropped just 9.7%.
What makes this even more impressive is that Tennessee isn’t home to an MLB franchise. Bettors love wagering on their hometown teams, and residents of Tennessee don’t have a hometown team to boost their numbers. The University of Tennessee won the college baseball World Series, which could be partly responsible for the steady numbers.
Outlook for football season looks promising
With Tennessee showing massive growth, operators are optimistic about the upcoming football season. Football drives the sports betting calendar, with the highest revenues of the year usually coming in the fall and early winter months.
The University of Tennessee football team has a realistic chance of competing for a spot in the expanded College Football Playoff (+175 odds at FanDuel Sportsbook). A competitive season from the Volunteers will surely lead to an influx of betting opportunities in the state.
The Tennessee Titans are usually competitive, but the NFL generates betting handles no matter how good the local teams are. Bettors bet on player props, parlays and primetime games no matter who is involved.
If the year-over-year trend is a sign of things to come, expect more big numbers to be posted in Tennessee this fall.
