Tennessee Sports Betting To Launch By Nov 1

Tennessee has announced to launch its online sports betting to go live by November 1st, 2020, extending its initial announcement date by two months.

Although there was a chance that sports betting might not be available until 2021, TN authorities decided to make its online sports betting live no later than November 1st, 2020.

Earlier, the Tennessee Education Lottery (TEL) had set September 1st as the initial date before realizing the deadline’s impracticability. Though the launch date has stretched to another two months, the sports betting operators and the enthusiasts are eagerly waiting for it.

With this development, Tennessee is only two months shy of enjoying to place legal wagers via online betting sites on their phones and PCs.

Announcement Made to Advisory Council

Following this announcement, TEL CEO Rebecca Hargrove provided the new launch date of November 1st to the Sports Wagering Advisory Council.

Though the regulators had been made up their minds of September date that would see sports wagering go live, they have rescheduled their plans accordingly.

Currently, there are four entities in competition to claim the leadership role in the Tennessee betting industry. Each of these firms is vying to become a gaming operator in the state.

Interestingly, the authorities have released the cost of the license without making public the names of these four firms. The operators will have to pay $750,000 annually in order to operate in Tennessee.

Originally, the process of license approval was to take 90 days. However, the authorities have now decided to speed up the process to meet the November 1st deadline.

Targeting to Coincide with NFL Season

The stakeholders had been pushing to hasten the sports wagering running by September for the NFL season as the professional football is the most popular sport in the US to wager on.

However, unfortunately, inevitable delays made it impossible for Tennessee sports betting to go live by September to coincide with the NFL season. Yet, it has been almost a norm in the state legislature to witness delays. Sports betting in Tennessee has been a tiresome business, involving long and heated debates before reaching to some common grounds.

How We Reached Here?

As said before, the sports betting has been a heated topic that found its way in the fall of 2018 in the Tennessee legislature. After the toil of two years of arguments for and against the industry, the state has finally realized its importance, allowing it to go live towards the end of the year.

Although the launch date has been pushed forward to November, it is believed that the state will still manage to capitalize on the NFL season, particularly with the Tennessee Titans, who will reportedly be a crucial factor in Tennessee’s sports betting market.

Another interesting detail has been shared by TEL that besides operators that it is doing more than just reviewing and approving operator licenses. The state lottery is also properly vetting over 20 applications for vendors and suppliers.

Despite the delay, experts are certain about one thing that Tennessee is turning out to be the formidable industry once it goes live.