Tennessee Passes First Online Only Sports Betting Bill
- TN approves sports betting
- It becomes the first state to introduce online-only offer
- Governor shows appreciation for Assembly’s decision despite his opposition to betting
Legal sports betting is finally coming to Tennessee, a bill passed on Friday confirmed. The Volunteer State is about to kick start its own sports wagering industry.
Tennessee Approves Legal Sports Betting
Tennessee has cleared all hurdles ahead of the sports betting industry. With Gov. Bill Lee giving a final approval for H 1. The state becomes the fourth in 2019 to has successfully pushed with sports betting legislation, the others including:
- Montana
- Indiana
- Iowa
Lee’s position was not one of endorsement, but of consensus. In the official statement, the Governor said that he was allowing H 00001 become a law without his signature, as he personally didn’t approve sports betting or any form of gambling.
However, he respected the efforts of the Assembly and said he wouldn’t go so far as to veto a law on a personal preference.
Tennessee Makes History with Online-Only Bill
Tennessee lawmaker had to get creative with overcoming infrastructural issues at home. The state doesn’t have casinos,which means that building these properties would require to attract investors ready to build brick-and-mortar betting venues.
With a population of nearly 7 million people, the state is most certainly not lacking opportunities to build casinos, but instead, lawmakers have opted for the much more convenient online betting medium, which is a first for the United States.
Tennessee will make full good use of the official data on offer by the NBA and MLB, which will give bettors in the state a good chance to place well-informed wagers. Still, businesses will have to be wary of new official data rules.
What Is the Bill All About?
With TN sports betting laws taking an interesting turn, a closer look is definitely worth it. Each business that wants to operate will have to pay a flat rate of $750,000. Additional 20% in tax will have to be paid on the companies revenue.
The state’s would-be operators are definitely not faced with a tough barrier and they will certainly be able to muster up the fee. There are many good businesses that are experts of online operations. William Hill and bet365 would be some of the overseas companies to probably jump at this opportunity.
Local operators such as DraftKings and FanDuel probably wouldn’t miss on what appears to be a fantastic opportunity, too. The new law will be officially passed on July 1 at which point the TN lottery will begin putting together a more detailed framework.
TN sports betting should be all ready, up and running before the NFL season.
Simon is a freelance writer who specializes in gambling news and has been an author in the poker/casino scene for 10+ years. He brings valuable knowledge to the team and a different perspective, especially as a casual casino player.
