Tennessee

Last verified September 27, 2026

By the Legal Sportsbooks US editorial team

Tennessee

Online only

Legal since

November 1, 2020 (online)

Minimum age

21 (18 for daily fantasy)

Regulator

Tennessee Sports Wagering Council

Licensed apps

9 online sportsbooks

State law

Tenn. Code 4-49-101 et seq. (Tennessee Sports Gaming Act, Pub. Ch. 507 of 2019)

Is sports betting legal in Tennessee?

Yes, online only. Mobile sports betting has been legal since November 1, 2020, under the Tennessee Sports Gaming Act of 2019. The law doesn't provide for retail sportsbooks and the state has no casinos, so every legal bet goes through one of nine apps licensed by the Tennessee Sports Wagering Council. You have to be 21 and physically inside Tennessee when you place it.

Where you can bet

As of September 2026 the Council licenses BetMGM, bet365, Bally Bet, Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, Fanatics Sportsbook, FanDuel Sportsbook, Hard Rock Bet and theScore Bet. BetMGM, DraftKings and FanDuel hold licenses dated November 1, 2020, launch day. bet365 is the newest, licensed February 11, 2025. Two books left recently: Betly shut down in late December 2025, and Nashville-based Action 24/7 stopped taking bets in January 2026.

College games are on the board, with limits set by Council rule. You can't bet on an individual player's stats or actions in a college game, before or during it, and in-game props on college teams are banned too. Pre-game team props are allowed. High school and youth league events are off limits. Sportsbooks must block deposits funded by credit cards.

Sportsbooks pay a 1.85% privilege tax on handle, the total amount wagered, instead of a tax on revenue. Tennessee was the first state to tax sports betting that way.

How Tennessee legalized sports betting

The lottery amendment

Article XI, Section 5 of the Tennessee Constitution barred the legislature from authorizing lotteries. Voters amended it on November 5, 2002, by 894,232 votes to 659,979 (57.5%), to allow a state lottery that funds college scholarships and other education programs. The same text says the amendment "does not authorize games of chance associated with casinos," and Tennessee has none. Sports betting was later authorized by statute, without a new amendment, and the Council's rules still bar any wager that would violate Article XI, Section 5.

Daily fantasy was legalized three years before sports betting. Attorney General Opinion 16-13 (April 5, 2016) concluded that paid fantasy contests were illegal gambling. Three weeks later, on April 27, 2016, Gov. Bill Haslam signed the Fantasy Sports Act (Public Chapter 978), which legalized the contests from July 1, 2016, and set a 6% tax on operators' adjusted revenue.

The 2019 Sports Gaming Act

House Bill 1 (Senate Bill 16) passed on April 30, 2019. Gov. Bill Lee let it become law without his signature. In a May 24, 2019 letter he wrote that he did not believe online sports betting was "in the best interest of our state" and that any future effort to add casinos would draw his veto. The act became Public Chapter 507 and took effect July 1, 2019.

As written, the act allowed online wagering only. It taxed each sportsbook's adjusted gross income at 20%, required official league data for live betting, and put regulation under the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation, advised by a new Sports Wagering Advisory Council. Books also had to hold at least 10% of their handle each month.

Launch and the move to an independent regulator

Four sportsbooks opened in November 2020. Six months later the legislature took the job away from the lottery. Senate Bill 588 (Public Chapter 593), signed May 27, 2021, gave all regulatory powers to a stand-alone Sports Wagering Advisory Council starting January 1, 2022. The Council hired an executive director in October 2021, adopted emergency rules effective January 1, 2022, and made permanent rules effective June 20, 2022.

The 2023 overhaul

Senate Bill 475 (Public Chapter 450), signed May 17, 2023 and effective July 1, 2023, replaced the 20% revenue tax with the 1.85% handle tax. It also ended the 10% minimum hold, which nine of the state's 11 books had paid penalties for missing, according to a fiscal note cited by Legal Sports Report, and dropped the official league data mandate. The regulator lost "Advisory" from its name and became the Sports Wagering Council. A separate 2023 law, Public Chapter 143, moved fantasy sports regulation from the Secretary of State to the Council on July 1, 2023.

2025 and 2026

Revised Council rules took effect June 30, 2025, adding multi-factor identity checks and new conditions for voiding bets. In the 2026 session the legislature passed two gambling bills that Gov. Lee signed on May 22, 2026. Senate Bill 1992 (Public Chapter 1109, effective July 1, 2026) makes it a Class E felony to try to influence an event while you, or someone working with you, hold a prediction market contract on it. Senate Bill 2136 (Public Chapter 1117, effective on signing) bans online sweepstakes casinos as a violation of the Consumer Protection Act and expands the Council's authority to investigate illegal gambling. A bill to block mobile betting on public college campuses (House Bill 1768) failed in a House subcommittee on March 3, 2026.

By September 9, 2026 the Council had sent cease-and-desist demands to 30 illegal offshore operators and assessed $1,250,000 in fines.

Sports betting court cases in Tennessee

Tennessee Action 24/7 v. lottery officials (2021)

On March 18, 2021, lottery officials suspended the license of Action 24/7, the state's only locally owned book, after an investigator reported credit card fraud, money laundering and proxy betting on its platform. The lottery board backed the suspension the next day. The company said it had self-reported the activity on March 17 and put fraudulent deposits at about $37,362. Within days it sued the lottery officials in Davidson County Chancery Court, arguing they had acted outside their authority. Later that month the court granted a temporary injunction that reinstated the license in time for the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16. The Tennessean reported it was the first suspension of a U.S. online sportsbook license. We couldn't find a docket number or a final judgment.

KalshiEX LLC v. Orgel

On January 9, 2026, the Council sent Kalshi a cease-and-desist letter, and Kalshi filed suit in the Middle District of Tennessee the same day (No. 3:26-cv-00034, Judge Aleta A. Trauger). The defendants are Council chairman William Orgel, executive director Mary Beth Thomas, Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and, at first, the Council itself. Kalshi's complaint points to an April 2025 Council letter that asked the CFTC not to allow sports event contracts, and to amicus briefs Skrmetti signed on June 17 and December 22, 2025, in Kalshi's Third and Fourth Circuit cases.

Judge Trauger issued a temporary restraining order on January 12, 2026 and held a hearing on February 2. On February 19 she granted a preliminary injunction against the three officials, on a $500,000 bond. She dismissed the Council on sovereign immunity grounds and found Kalshi likely to win because its sports contracts are "swaps" under the Commodity Exchange Act and state enforcement was conflict-preempted.

The officials appealed on March 20 (Sixth Circuit No. 26-5235), and the court paired the case with Kalshi's Ohio appeal, KalshiEX v. Schuler (No. 26-3196). The Sixth Circuit denied the CFTC's request to take part in oral argument as an amicus. Argument was July 30. On September 25, 2026, Judges Clay, Gibbons and Bloomekatz ruled unanimously for the states. Gibbons wrote that Kalshi hadn't shown its sports contracts are swaps, and that even if they were, the Commodity Exchange Act neither expressly nor impliedly preempts Tennessee's or Ohio's gambling laws. The panel rejected Tennessee's argument that Kalshi had no cause of action. It vacated the Tennessee injunction and sent the case back to Judge Trauger. Kalshi said it disagreed. We couldn't confirm what has happened in Judge Trauger's court since the ruling.

Tayip v. Tennessee Sports Wagering Council and BetMGM

A Nashville bettor filed a petition in Davidson County Chancery Court on October 6, 2025 (No. 25-1399-III), seeking review of a Council decision and suing BetMGM. He says he self-excluded from June 16, 2021 to June 16, 2026 and was allowed to keep betting. The court severed the claims on March 6, 2026. The Council appeal stayed in chancery (second amended petition filed April 2, 2026). BetMGM removed the damages claims to federal court on April 6, 2026 (M.D. Tenn. No. 3:26-cv-00409), where he seeks up to $325,000 in wagers plus $275,000 in other damages. We haven't found a ruling in either court.

Rulings from other circuits

Other circuits' rulings don't bind Tennessee's federal courts. The Third Circuit ruled 2 to 1 for Kalshi against New Jersey on April 6, 2026, and the Ninth Circuit ruled against it in Nevada on August 28, 2026. New Jersey's petition for Supreme Court review (No. 26-299) was filed September 2, 2026, and Kalshi's response is due November 9.

Prediction markets and daily fantasy

The January 9, 2026 letters went to Kalshi, Polymarket and Crypto.com. They told each company to stop offering sports event contracts in Tennessee, void open positions and refund customers by January 31, 2026. Of the three, only Kalshi sued, as far as we found (see the court cases above). Novig (Ludlow Exchange, LLC), which the CFTC designated a contract market on June 16, 2026, got no letter and isn't a party to any Tennessee case we found; its eligibility page excludes only Nevada, Arizona and Michigan, and it takes users 21 and up with ID. Public Chapter 1109 criminalizes manipulating an event you hold a contract on. It doesn't license or ban prediction markets.

Paid daily fantasy is open to anyone 18 or older. The Council licenses 16 fantasy operators, including PrizePicks, Underdog, DraftKings, FanDuel, Sleeper and Yahoo.

Help with a gambling problem

Tennessee REDLINE: call 1-800-889-9789.

Sources

Common questions

How we track and verify state laws

What does Legal Sportsbooks US track?

Every state's legal status, the date betting became legal, the minimum age, the regulator and the licensed apps, plus the legal history and court cases behind them, for all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Our page on how we track and verify state laws explains the details.

What do the statuses mean?

Online and retail means licensed mobile apps and in-person sportsbooks both operate. Online only means betting happens through licensed apps, with no retail sportsbooks. Retail only means you can bet in person at licensed venues, but there's no statewide app. Not legal means no licensed sportsbooks operate. Legislation pending means a bill or ballot measure is moving, but betting hasn't launched. Not yet verified means we haven't confirmed the state's current status.

Can I bet on sports where I live?

The rules follow where you are when you place the bet. Licensed apps use geolocation to confirm you're inside a state where they can operate, and some states limit betting to certain premises. Find your state in the state index, or read our guide to location rules.

How old do you have to be to bet on sports?

It's 21 in 33 of the 40 jurisdictions with legal sports betting and 18 in five: Washington, D.C., Montana, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Wyoming. In North Dakota and Washington, the tribal casino sets the age.

How current is the tracker?

State laws and licenses change, so every state entry records the date it was last verified. If a status looks out of date, the state regulator's website has the official answer.

Is this legal advice?

No. We summarize public information about state sports betting laws. Confirm the rules with your state regulator before you bet, and don't wager more than you can afford to lose.