Tennessee could be in line to join the small group of US states that have regulated legal sports betting in their territories, after a lawmaker put forward a new sports betting bill.
Rick Staples, a Representative in the Tennessee State Legislature, has pre-filed his bill, named HB 0001, which proposes a complete structure for a sports betting sector in the state. If the bill is eventually passed, it would represent a dramatic change in Tennessee, which has traditionally been seen as a staunch anti-gambling region.
Rep. Staples’ bill proposes a 10 percent tax on all gaming revenue in the state, and suggests that 40 percent of the tax should go to the state’s general fund for appropriations, with 30 percent being granted to community colleges and colleges of applied technology in the state to enable them to improve their equipment and launch new capital projects. Under the terms of the Bill, the remaining 30 percent of tax revenue would go to local government to spend on education and infrastructure.
Tennessee gaming commission
Regulation of the sports betting industry in Tennessee would be carried out by a new Tennessee Gaming Commission, which would also have the authority to work with the Tennessee bureau of investigation when it came to integrity and other enforcement matters.
Following the striking down of the 1992 PASPA Act by the Supreme Court in May, a number of states have pushed forward with sports betting regulations. Currently, sports betting is legal in six states, and three more – Pennsylvania, New York and Rhode Island – have recently passed bills legalizing the sports betting industry in principle. Betting on sport is already legal in nearby West Virginia, and lawmakers in both Kentucky and Missouri are considering legislation.
But there is still likely to be considerable opposition in Tennessee, most notably from the new Governor Bill Lee, who last month said that he was opposed to sports betting.
