Regulatory Committees are Changing in the Tennessee Sports Betting World

Starting January 1st, the Sports Wagering Advisory Committee in Tennessee is the regulator of sports betting in the state. However, because the process has been stalled for months due to the predecessor, work is cut out for this new regulator. The predecessor was the Tennessee Education Lottery and the change has been made because in 2021, legislation was passed that called for the change.

Back in May 2021, the CEO of the Tennessee Education Lottery, Rachel Hargrove, indicated that the organization was ecstatic with the result of that legislation. In addition, she told the Sports Wagering Advisory Committee that the TEC did not have to process any additional applications until the new regulator took over in 2022.

On the operator side of things, this appears to be what occurred. The Sports Wagering Advisory Committee adopted five applicants that are hoping to launch sportsbooks in the state. They are: Fubo Gaming, Bally Bet, SuperBook, Gamewise (a joint venture between GAMING1 and Delaware North), and ZenSports. According to the Executive Director, Mary Beth Thomas, there is also a sixth operator who is unspecified who is sending via FedEx another application.

Bally Bet and Fubo Gaming, two of the above applicants, sent in their applications in May 2021. So, these two applicants will be given priority and processed first because of the around seven month wait. Thomas was asked whether there was a statute that set a deadline for how fast the applications need to be processed. She stated there was a 90-day window for these applications that have been completed.

But, she could not answer whether determining the completeness of the applications had been decided by the Tennessee Education Lottery. Back in November 2021, applications from Gamewise and SuperBook were received by the Tennessee Education Lottery. She did not note when the application from ZenSports had been submitted.

Billy Orgel, the Chairman, asked Mary Beth to address whether these sportsbooks would be able to launch in time for Super Bowl betting. However, she was unable to give an exact timeline, only indicating that they will try to move as quickly as possible with the application approval process.

There are issues ahead, like the fact that a national background check will require fingerprints. So, this means the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will need to work with the FBI. 

As of this writing, Tennessee hit a record-breaking month with its revenue from November 2021. The eight sportsbooks that are live in the state were able to rake in $36.9 million in November. This is in spite of a handle drop to $365.7 million, 2.6% month-over-month, in November as well. Operators paid on the $29.6 million in adjusted gross income $5.9 million in taxes.

It is expected that revenue reports from December will put Tennessee over the $3 billion lifetime handle mark. Tennessee sports betting first launched in November 2020. In the thirteen months since its launch, $2.7 billion in bets have already been made.

Written by Allie Nelson, our US Sports Betting Industry Expert. You can learn more about our author's expertise here.