Tennessee Gives Green Light to Two New Operators

Categories: News, Tennessee | Published by: Alex W

03/02/2021

Tennessee Education Lottery has given approval to two new operators to launch in the state with Wynn Bet & William Hill receiving licenses.

Two more sports betting operators are heading to the TN sports betting market, in more good wagering news for the Volunteer State. However, neither operator will be available for Super Bowl Sunday this weekend. William Hill and WynnBET received approval last Friday during a special meeting of the Sports Wagering Committee of the Tennessee Education Lottery (TEL) Corp. The board of directors ultimately decided to give both operators the green light, and they are the sixth and seventh operators to gain approval in Tennessee.

William Hill has indicated that they are likely to launch in February. Churchill Downs, which operates TwinSpires, formerly known as BetAmerica, received approval earlier this month. No launch date has been set for the operator to go live, but February seems likely for them as well.

One of the issues for British bookie William Hill is that it has a server in downtown Nashville which suffered some damage from the Christmas Day explosion over a month ago. The blast took place in the Second Avenue Commercial District. It was caused by a recreational vehicle exploding, resulting in injuries to three people and significant damage to numerous buildings. The server issue will not be overcome in time for Super Bowl Sunday this coming weekend, as current champions the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Seven Operators Have Approval in Tennessee

There are now seven approved sports betting platforms in Tennessee. The initial group launched on November 1 and included DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, and local company Action 24/7. The operators have posted around $312 million in handle in the first two months. Following the special meeting last Friday, ten further vendors have also received approval.

Last week, Tennessee released its December sports betting figures, and there were a lot of positives to take. There was a massive increase in numbers across the board, which is impressive considering it was just the second month of online wagering. With no commercial casinos in Tennessee, the Volunteer State became the first area to have an all-mobile sports betting market.

Big December Handle Numbers

TEL, which regulated online sports betting in Tennessee, reported that the total handle for December was $180.9 million. These numbers were a 37.7% increase over November’s $131.4 million, which was its first month in operation.

December gross payouts were $167 million, a significant 41% increase over November’s $118.2 million. Finally, in December, Tennessee’s privilege tax was $3.1 million, which was a 29.2% increase over November’s 2.4 million. All the numbers were released from TEL’s totals for sports betting taxes and wagering.