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A hearing on Tuesday in Nashville featured the most advanced discussion yet of Tennessee’s sports bettingefforts, but some tall hurdles remain ahead of a potential committee vote in the coming weeks.
The legislation, House Bill 1, originally was written for statewide mobile and brick-and-mortar Sports Betting locations sprinkled around the state. Tennessee doesn’t have any casinos or racinos, so the activity would have been regulated under a new state gaming commission.
That was the situation a mere two weeks ago, before amendments were unveiled last week to change the legislation to mobile-only sports wagering, and instead of creating a new state agency to oversee the gambling, the Tennessee Lottery, which has experience with its own app, would be the regulator.
Backers of Tennessee’s Sports Betting efforts are eyeing a Sports Betting market worth nearly $150 mm each year in taxable revenues, based off roughly $3 billion in handle.
In what could be the most unusual proposed Sports Betting provision in the country since PASPA was overturned in May 2018, the committee narrowly avoided amending the bill to ban betting on major holidays (Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving), as well as on Sundays from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Such a rule would effectively prohibit the bulk of gambling on NFL games, the most popular form of Sports Betting in the country. No representatives of the Tennessee Titans were present Tuesday to weigh in on the measure.
The amendment, which would have dealt a blow to the legislation, was shot down by a vote of 10 nays to 9 yays. Lawmakers who voted for it could be opposed to sports gambling in general, so that could end up being the final committee vote on the bill.
A hearing on Tuesday in Nashville featured the most advanced discussion yet of Tennessee’s sports bettingefforts, but some tall hurdles remain ahead of a potential committee vote in the coming weeks.
The legislation, House Bill 1, originally was written for statewide mobile and brick-and-mortar Sports Betting locations sprinkled around the state. Tennessee doesn’t have any casinos or racinos, so the activity would have been regulated under a new state gaming commission.
That was the situation a mere two weeks ago, before amendments were unveiled last week to change the legislation to mobile-only sports wagering, and instead of creating a new state agency to oversee the gambling, the Tennessee Lottery, which has experience with its own app, would be the regulator.
Backers of Tennessee’s Sports Betting efforts are eyeing a Sports Betting market worth nearly $150 mm each year in taxable revenues, based off roughly $3 billion in handle.
In what could be the most unusual proposed Sports Betting provision in the country since PASPA was overturned in May 2018, the committee narrowly avoided amending the bill to ban betting on major holidays (Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving), as well as on Sundays from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Such a rule would effectively prohibit the bulk of gambling on NFL games, the most popular form of Sports Betting in the country. No representatives of the Tennessee Titans were present Tuesday to weigh in on the measure.
The amendment, which would have dealt a blow to the legislation, was shot down by a vote of 10 nays to 9 yays. Lawmakers who voted for it could be opposed to sports gambling in general, so that could end up being the final committee vote on the bill.
