Tennessee’s sports tourism expects 3.5 million tourists arrival each year

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Tennessee is eyeing mostly on a sports betting industry that will generate $254 mm in annual, taxable gaming revenue. That comes from a projection that the state’s 21-and-over population of 4.95 mm and about 3.52 mm of-age tourists will generate, on average, $30 in gross gaming revenue annually.

Tennessee got the $30 annual GGR per adult from a 2017 study commissioned by the U.S. commercial casino industry, which at the time was engaged in a public relations campaign in favor of the U.S. Supreme Court striking down the federal sports betting prohibition.  There are three-and-a-half million out-of-state sports bettors might sound like a lot, but it’s only 3% of the state’s annual tourism figure. According to the TN Department of Tourist Development, the Volunteer State saw 116.1 mm visitors in 2017-2018. Tennessee is in the top 10 among U.S. states in terms of tourism.

Tennessee is expecting a sizable portion of its sports betting market to come from non-Tennessee residents. That will incentivize the state to market its sports betting, to be regulated by the Tennessee Lottery, to visitors. According to a fiscal note for Tennessee sports betting bill, the state has only “moderate” access to high-speed internet, which caused its projection for gross gaming revenue from its residents to be lower than what Oxford Economics projected in the aforementioned industry study.

Tennessee thinks it will make up the difference with sports betting by tourists. Tennessee got the $30 annual GGR per adult from a 2017 study commissioned by the U.S. commercial casino industry, which at the time was engaged in a public relations campaign in favor of the U.S. Supreme Court striking down the federal sports betting prohibition. The high court did so in May 2018.

Tennessee is expecting a sizable portion of its sports betting market to come from non-Tennessee residents. That will incentivize the state to market its sports betting, to be regulated by the Tennessee Lottery, to visitors.

According to a fiscal note for Tennessee sports betting bill, the state has only “moderate” access to high-speed internet, which caused its projection for gross gaming revenue from its residents to be lower than what Oxford Economics projected in the aforementioned industry study. Tennessee thinks it will make up the difference with sports betting by tourists.

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