NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — For the first time, Tennesseans can place their bets on this year's NFL draft. This comes after the state's industry saw a $205.9 million success in March thanks to the NCAA tournament.
"Tennesseans came back strong in March for that first-ever tournament that they could bet on. They wagered about 17% more than they did in February," said PlayTenn.com content editor, Nicole Russo. Of that, the state generated $3.2 million in taxes.
Russo said to date Tennessee has seen about $15 million in tax revenue from sports betting. She said, "80% of that goes to the Lottery For Education Fund through the TEL, and then about 15% of that goes towards local infrastructure projects and 5% of that goes into funding responsible gambling programs."
The state has seen $905 million in wagers since November’s launch, putting it on track to become one of the quickest states to hit $1 billion in bets. "Tennessee has kind of become a model in the South for how to get sports betting up and running," said Russo.
Last month two more sportsbooks did just that with TwinSpires and William Hill launching operations.
"The licensing fee is pretty low," said Russo, "you don't have to partner with a casino because there are no casinos and basically as soon as you're ready betters can sign up for your product."
Now more companies are making bets on Tennessee.
"So WynnBET, which is the sports betting app for Wynn resorts, has actually already been conditionally approved for launch whenever they're ready and we expect them to go live actually within probably the next week or so, if [not] even shorter, in the state," said Russo.
She says the next name to join the list could be Barstool Sports.
