Tennessee and Michigan Moving Forward in Sports Betting Market

It's a tale of two states that look ready to join the ranks of U.S. states where online sports gambling in up and running. First up is the state of Tennessee.

It's been over a year since the Tennessee legislature passed a billed that legalized sports betting for the state's residents. In the time between the bill passing and now, the state's Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation board of directors have had difficulty actually bringing sports betting to its residents.

For the first six months, the committee was working through logistical issues. Further delays resulted because of the Coronavirus pandemic, which brought everything in the sports betting world to a screeching halt.

Finally, there is good news for Tennessee sports bettors. The committee has announced the issuing of three sports betting licenses to the following three operators: DraftKings Sportsbook, FanDuel Sportsbook, and BetMGM. It's noteworthy that these three operators are the most dominant landbased and online bookmakers currently providing sports betting services in the U.S. In Tennessee, bookmakers will be using a mobile sports betting approach only.

In addition to the aforementioned bookmakers, the committee remarked they are still taking applications and anticipate issuing several other licenses in the near future. With three viable bookmakers now in place, November 1 has been earmarked as the start of legalized sports betting in the state of Tennessee.

Michigan Could See Sports Betting By Thanksgiving

In December of 2019, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the state's Lawful Sports Betting Act. Much like Tennessee, Michigan also encountered logistical and COVID issues on the way to trying to get sports betting in place in time for March Madness. When March Madness was canceled due to pandemic, the state put on the brakes.

The news came this week that the Michigan Gaming Control Board is ready to start drafting the rules that will dictate how sports betting will be administered in Michigan.

The process looks like it will flow as follows. Currently, the Joint Committee of Administrative Rules is drafting the rules, which will be submitted to the Michigan Office for Administrative Hearings and Rules for approval. The approval process should take about 40 days. After approval, the licensing process should be completed with about 25 days.

The hope is Michigan sports bettors will finally be able to start placing bets by Thanksgiving Day. Michigan bettor will be able to place bets online or through retail betting sites.