Sports betting in Tennessee moves forward
A House committee approved a bill seeking to legalise sports betting in Tennessee and passed it on to another committee.
US.- As the gaming industry evolves in the US, governments across the country seek to update their regulations. That’s why sports betting in Tennessee has progressed after a bill was approved by another committee.
A House committee passed Rep. Rick Staples’ legislation, which would allow mobile and online sports betting in Tennessee. The panel accepted several amendments and sent the bill to another one, which will discuss it before it reaches the final debate.
Among the amendments are some requested by the University of Tennessee and Vanderbilt University. They asked lawmakers to bar people such as athletes, school officials and board members, who may access to key information.
The bill
Staples said that the bill intends to allow the state to have a new source of income, and explained that billions of dollars leave Tennesse to neighbouring states with casino and table gaming. “So, this is a new stream of revenue that the federal government is allowing the states to take advantage of,” he explained.
The Act establishes that companies in charge of running sports betting would need to be located in Tennessee, but could place kiosks across the state to collect bets. “It would cause an extra boom in a city like that that would have three professional teams and a lot of the local bars or restaurants,” said Staples. “As long as they’re not serving alcohol in the same area that the neighbouring is, they can generate a lot of income and even more tax dollars,” Staples said.
Opposition
The Senate Government Operations Committee voted 8-1 and decided not to recommend Republican Sen. Steve Dickerson’s bill. That may hurt sports betting chances in Tennessee, but it still needs to be sent to another committee for a vote.
The proposed legislation would clear sports betting to launch in the state on mobile and interactive sports gambling, without land-based locations. The segment is expected to generate up to US$50 million in revenue in its second year, Dickerson said.
