Start Date for Tennessee Sports Betting Still Unknown Industry

No Timeline for Sports Betting Rollout in Tennessee

By Amelia Walker Senior Content Writer Updated: 03 January 2020

Amelia Walker Senior Content Writer

Amelia Walker is a Senior Content Writer at Betting.US. She has a law degree and deep knowledge of the gambling laws in the United States. Her mission is to keep players informed about responsible gambling, while her passion for sports helps her create useful guides. Amelia has over a decade of experience in betting, which has positioned her as a trusted voice among our readers.

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Back in July 2019, sports betting was legalized in Tennessee. To the frustration of many though, there still hasn’t been much indication on when sports betting will actually be rolled out in the state. Now officials from the lottery have stated that there is still no timeline for the introduction of sports betting, which will undoubtedly frustrate sports betting fans even more.

At the moment, sports betting is going through a public consultation phase, during which those living in Tennessee are able to voice their views on its implementation. This public consultation period comes to an end on Monday 6th January. It was initially supposed to end on December 23rd 2019, however it was extended. Once the public consultation finishes, the Tennessee Lottery and a nine member board will look over every comment, before then coming up with the rules for betting in the state.

That won’t bring the process to an end though, as potential vendors will then have to go through a license application process, which could take quite a while. Only once licenses have been handed out will any betting company be able to start offering sports betting markets to those within Tennessee‘s borders. Some – including Rick Staples, the bill’s sponsor – are still hopeful that the start will be before March Madness, however that might be hoping for too much from a system that has already proven itself to be a slow one.

Issues with the Sports Betting Bill

According to many, the bill is not a perfect one, and there are some hoping that a couple of contentious items will be altered before sports betting goes live in the state. The biggest concern for many, including Cal Spears, the CEO for Better Collective TN, is the fact that sportsbooks would have to cap the total payout to players at 85%. Spears notes that this is much lower than the average throughout the country. The result would be players receiving less money than those in other states would.

Speaking about this aspect of the bill, Spears said:

It would be a poison pill. It would be so detrimental to a competitive marketplace that I’m afraid a lot of potential licensees like DraftKings, FanDuel [and] casinos would not even pay for a license.

Spears adds that the fact that sportsbooks would have to offer odds that are much less competitive than those in other states would cause gamblers in Tennessee to continue to head to other states in order to bet, or to continue betting with illegal bookies. If they do place bets elsewhere, the state will be losing revenue from taxation on sports betting.

The other problem that some have with the bill is the fact that the rules on parlay bets (bets involving two or more combined selections) are not good for players. With the current rules, any pushed bet would still count towards the parlay, meaning it would be a losing one – something that seems pretty unfair to many. In other states though, such as New Jersey, a pushed bet within a parlay is simply removed and the bet continues with the other selections, albeit with altered odds.