Author:

Richard Miller

Last Updated:

April 22, 2021

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Richard was Marketing Manager at a global bookmaker and worked in the enterntainment sector for decades before working his way up in the world of entrepreneurs. His focus areas are mainly in the fields of sports and politics. He has a Science Degree, visited Harvard University and is now our hardworking Editor-in-Chief at BettingBilly.

Richard was Marketing Manager at a global bookmaker and worked in the enterntainment sector for decades before working his way up in the world of entrepreneurs. His focus areas are mainly in the fields of sports and politics. He has a Science Degree, visited Harvard University and is now our hardworking Editor-in-Chief at BettingBilly.

Tennessee Online Sports Betting in 2021

One year after the Supreme Court ruled out PASPA proving it unconstitutional, Tennessee joined a growing number of states to allow sports gambling within its borders. The difference between the Volunteer State and every other state in the country is the fact that sports betting Tennessee will be available online only. Despite the 2019 bill legalizing sports betting across the state, we are, however, still waiting for the maiden Tennessee sportsbook to go live.

Gambling has never been among the most popular habits for the Tennesseans who will still be forced to wait a good amount of time before they get the opportunity to place wagers inside a brick-and-mortar casino.

The state legislature passed Bill HB 0001 on May 25^th, 2019, allowing legalized sports betting inside its borders. Although Governor Bill Lee did not sign the Tennessee Sports Gaming Act himself, it became law in spring 2019, cleaning the way for any operator intending to join the new market to act.

Normally, online-only is a tougher proponent to pass than land-based betting, but this is how the Volunteer State legislature dealt the matter. The Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation (TELC) was granted oversight and is in full charge of the process. When it adopted the ultimate set of sports betting regulations in April 2020, it was clear brick-and-mortar casinos are still not welcome in the Volunteer State. The bettors will thus be forced to place wagers through online channels only, at least for now.

It remains to be seen whether or not such an approach will harm the state industry. Some people argue sports gambling Tennessee would never reach its full potential without brick-and-mortar casinos. The reports from other states reveal the opposite, though. Online and mobile sports betting site accounts have brought much greater revenue in states where land-based betting is offered. The ratio is as big as 90% to 10% in favor of online betting in New Jersey for example.

It will be very interesting to see whether the structure of legal sports betting in Tennessee will be followed by other states who are yet to clarify their position after the 2018 PASPA repealing.

As mentioned above, Tennessee sports betting is limited to online and mobile platforms exclusively. Except for only a few uncertainties on the matter, we have a good amount of information on how online sports betting in Tennessee will work moving forward. Tennessee online sports betting bill was introduced by Rep. Rick Staples in November 2018. It passed the House and the Senate in spring 2019. Several amendments have been added since and it seems everything is set for the first online sportsbooks to enter the Volunteer State market in the third quarter of 2020.

As per the state law, the number of operators who can apply for the Tennessee betting license is unlimited. Nevertheless, bountiful catches, namely high tax rates, will no doubts discourage some candidates and affect the overall density of the market. To join it, sportsbooks will need to pay a $750,000 annual fee, a 20% tax rate, and a mandatory 10% hold.

This is one of the highest tax rates in the United States and it comes in conjunction with the mandatory minimum hold requirement. Compared to the likes of New Jersey and Nevada (from 5.5 to 7%), such a high mandatory hold will make the job significantly tougher for any sports betting operator in the Volunteer State. It will clearly make the pricing scheme way less favorable for Tennessee bettors. To briefly explain it, a sportsbook that accepts $2 million in bets is required to have at least $200,000 revenue. The maximum a gambler can win in such circumstances is 90% of his/her initial stake. What does it mean for regular bettors? They will most likely have to bet $125 for a $100 win.

The operators will also have to buy official league data from professional competitions to provide live betting services (accept in-game wagers).

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The Volunteers will most likely have the luxury of placing wagers on their favorite sports teams from the comfort of their homes through any portable device as of the latter stages of the 2020 summer. Whilst there are no accurate dates in regards to when we can expect the inaugural Tennessee sports betting app to be launched since the United States are still wrestling the COVID-19 pandemic, we would be extremely surprised to see the start of the new NFL season without an official legal sportsbook in the Volunteer State.

The above-discussed criteria operators are required to meet to provide online sports betting in Tennessee is applied to mobile wagering as well. The market is still very attractive given the number of high-profile professional sports teams in the state. We can probably expect the giants like DraftKings, FanDuel, Bet365, William Hill, BetMGM, or Ceasars to be the first to provide mobile sports betting in Tennessee.

As of 2020, four major professional sports teams call Tennessee their home. Nashville SC have just made their debut in the elite tier of US professional soccer in early 2020. Unfortunately, the coronavirus outbreak shut down the entire competition for several months. The league debutants are yet to clinch their maiden point having suffered back-to-back narrow losses to Atlanta United and Portland Timbers in the opening two rounds of the campaign.

The other three TN pro teams have a much longer history. Football betting still has the prime across the whole country and there are no doubts NFL betting will be massive in Tennessee whose Titans had an extraordinary play-offs run to the AFC Championship game in the 2019 campaign.  Rejuvenated Ryan Tannehill and one of the best rushers in the competition, Derrick Henry, were the main catalysts for amazing success in the previous term.

The Ravens dethroned New England Patriots and stunned Baltimore Ravens (the main favorites) on the road before falling to the eventual Super Bowl winners Chiefs in the AFC Championship game in Kansas City. The Titans are set for another strong campaign in 2020. We can only imagine the euphoria in and around Nissan Stadium when the fans will finally be able to place wagers on the Titans' affairs.

Euphoria is just the right word to describe the sudden rise of Nashville Predators in their latest NHL adventures. The Volunteers have never had a traditional ice-hockey fan base, but you simply have to visit Bridgestone Arena to feel the breathtaking atmosphere created by one of the most raucous crowds in the competition. The Predators are yet to clinch their inaugural Stanley Cup trophy, but they’ve been Western Conference champions in the 2016/17 season. One year later they’ve won their maiden Presidents’ Cup title.

Finally, NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies will no doubts be a regularly-taken wagering option in Tennessee, especially now when the team led by fantastic Ja Morant shocked most heavyweights on the West.

Most states have imposed harsh restrictions on college betting, but Tennessee is not among them. The local sportsbook will be allowed to accept wagers on college football and basketball, as well as any other non-professional sport. Punters will even have the opportunity to predict the outcomes of matches played by local college teams. March Madness and College Football Playoff, as well as the competitions’ regular seasons, will be up for grabs for sports bettors within the state's borders. This, however, works only for pre-game bets. In-play wagering on college sports events will not be allowed.

When it comes to daily fantasy sports, the Volunteer State was the third in the whole country to allow a DFS law in 2016. It means the industry-heavyweights such as DraftKings and FanDuel are already present in Tennessee and more than welcome to expand the business lines by offering sports betting in the state. Obviously, the bettors will be in for a tremendous range of markets from numerous sports, even those popular overseas.

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Tennessee has never been a gambling-friendly state. Its betting history brings us back to 1804 when the first form of horse racing emerged there. Tennessee's Gallatin was the state's maiden racetrack. It was followed by nine more by 1839 as the pastime quickly spread out among the Tennesseans. Nonetheless, the Volunteers were forced to discontinue their new hobby at the turn of the century as the State General Assembly passed anti-gambling law in 1906. The decision completely destroyed the horse racing market for years, best proving how accurate the maiden sentence of the paragraph is. The government was harsh towards any kind of gambling. They closed several hundreds of illegal bingo venues in 1989.

The beginning of the new century was marked by the initial moves towards at least some sort of liberalization on the matter. The Tennessee Lottery became the inaugural legal form of gambling in the Volunteer State since the aforementioned pari-mutuel betting in 2002.  It was officially launched one year later and proved out to be one of the most profitable lotteries in the United States in no time. It broke a record with $1.48 billion in ticket sales in 2015.

The State Legislature decided to legalize charitable gaming in 2010 as a way to help towns recover faster from floods and tornadoes. Licensed charities were allowed to organize one gambling event per year by the Tennessee Charitable Gaming Implementation Law. This form of gambling has also significantly contributed to raising funds for the state.

Based on the state’s gambling history, everyone was rather shocked to see Tennessee embracing daily fantasy sports before most other states in the country in 2016. They legalized sports betting three years later, but the casino and poker aficionados will still have to be patient as there are no signs of any moves regarding the introduction of these gambling forms whatsoever.

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Conclusion: Enjoy Tennessee Sports Betting

Tennessee has never been a gambling-friendly state but the fact they quickly embraced daily fantasy sports in 2016 left room for the fast introduction of sports betting. It became legal in the spring of 2019, only in the online form, though. It is not possible to place a wager on any sports event inside a brick-and-mortar casino because none is existing in the state. The first online betting operators are expected to be launched in the third quarter of 2020, before the start of the new NFL season.

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