Back To The Drawing Board For Tennessee Sports Betting Rules

• Tennessee still cannot come up with reasonable rules and regulations that will allow the process of launching legal sports betting in the Volunteer State to become easier.
• TN HB 1 made mobile gambling on sports legal in 2019 but there are still no set rules for this law.
• A new draft should give the state a timeline of rolling out its application to the residents of TN by the time the 2020 NFL season begins.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Legal sports betting in Tennessee is experiencing further delays for a public launch.

Tennessee legalized gambling on sports by way of mobile platforms in May 2019 with TN HB 1 but issues on rules and regulations continue to plague the application from becoming a reality.

A meeting at the Tennessee Sports Wagering Council on Tuesday concluded that an entirely new draft on the rules and regulations for the mobile sports betting app would be needed.

Changes Are Coming

Under the sports betting law in the Volunteer State, only mobile betting was legalized. No retail locations exist to offer land-based sportsbooks. This means that businesses won’t be handling the operations of their own mobile sports betting applications.

Instead, the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation (TELC) will oversee the market for gambling on sporting events in the state.

Until they, along with stakeholders, can come up with a draft of rules and regulations that can be agreed upon, the licensing application process cannot begin. The changes requested seem simple enough.

In the original draft, sportsbooks would receive 15% on a customer’s payout because the payout was capped at 85%. It’s been requested that the change give operators 10% and have the sports bettor receive a 90% capped payout on their wager.

Most changes for a new draft all revolve around getting the residents a better deal for them to want to engage in sports betting. The licensing fee of $750,000 on an annual basis will be made lower. The rule on parlays would also be revised.

As it is, any tie of a parlay match would be a loss for the bettor and a win for the sportsbook. The requested change is to remain in line with sports betting nationwide that allows ties the ability to move forward with the parlay rather than deem it a loss.

One final aspect that will be looked over is the advertising of sports betting once it finally rolls out to the people of the Volunteer State.

The TELC would like to have a 30-day period to go over any and all advertisements that sportsbooks want to use before they can use them. Stakeholders want to see this timespan cut to a shorter amount of time when the new draft is drawn up.

Final Thoughts

Tennessee will have legalized sports betting through mobile platforms in 2020. The goal is to have it by the summer of 2020.

However, the state would be fine with a launch to take place simultaneously with the start of the NFL season. Well over a year after legalization, the Volunteer State will be able to gamble on sports matchups if this next draft of rules and regulations can get it right.

News tags: NFL | Tennessee | Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation | Tennessee Sports Wagering Council