The Tennessee Education Lottery (TEL)’s board of directors has approved an initial list of sporting events for online wagering in the state, to be published on its website in the near future.
The TEL, which serves as the licensing and regulatory body for online gambling in the state, and not as an operator, also announced today that the Sports Wagering Committee of the board had also met and approved 17 new vendors in the state.
There are three categories of potential license applicants; licensees (operators), suppliers and vendors. Vendor licenses are primarily for affiliates and payment providers.
There is no restriction on the number of licences that may be issued for online sports betting operations, but licensees and suppliers must meet suitability requirements. Customers must be over 21 years of age and physically present in the state at the time a wager is placed.
The committee conditionally approved its first sports betting licences for three operators in September, granting permission to Flutter Entertainment-owned FanDuel, as well as BetMGM and DraftKings to operate online wagering from the vertical’s launch date of November 1.
At that time, it also approved 26 vendor applications, in addition to 22, primarily payment service providers, affiliates and marketing businesses, which were previously approved.
In anticipation of its licence approval, BetMGM last month signed a sponsorship deal with National Football League (NFL) team the Tennessee Titans. The deal represented the first official partnership between a professional sports team in the state and a sports betting platform.
A bill allowing the legalisation of sports betting was first passed in the state in May 2019, with rules and processes for the vertical approved in April 2020. The rules include an annual operator’s licence fee of $750,000, which falls to $75,000 for suppliers, and the level 3 licence, for contractors and subcontractors, costs $7,500.