Bettors placed $144.5m in wagers during the 31 days of August; both August and July reported a betting pace of $4.7m per day. While August produced $2m in tax revenue, gross gaming revenue decreased to $13.2m from $15.2m in July.

Analyst for PlayTenn, Nicole Russo, commented: “After an up and down summer, it would’ve been encouraging to see some growth in handle ahead of what is a crucial period in the industry. No sport motivates bettors like football, though. And a surge in betting this fall will put an end to the slower summer months.

“College football and the NFL aren’t just important in terms of the wagers they generate; they also represent the greatest opportunity for sportsbooks to grow their customer base.”

September, however, is expected to show a change, as it marks the beginning of the first full football season of legal betting in the state. Despite the shutdown of major sports for months, the bets placed from September to December 2020 represented 60% of the total money wagered legally in the US throughout the entirety of last year. In 2019, more than 50% of all legal bets were also placed during the last four months of the year.

Eric Ramsey, Analyst for PlayUSA (which includes PlayTenn) added: “This is the most important time for the industry, but we still don’t know for certain how bettors in Tennessee will engage over a full football season. It seems like a safe bet that wagering on football will likely represent a greater share of Tennessee’s annual handle than the national average.”