Tennessee’s sports betting regulator has doled out $250,000 in fines to five offshore sportsbooks that it says are operating as “bad actors” in the state.
The Tennessee Sports Wagering Council (SWC) confirmed on Tuesday it has levied fines of $50,000 each to Costa Rica-based BetAnySports, Bookmaker and JazzSports, Panama-based BetOnline and Curaçao-based Everygame. The Council said the five illegal books are in violation of the Tennessee Sports Gaming Act by unlawfully accepting wagers without a license.
The Council previously sent a C&D to BetOnline, ordering it to shutter operations in Tennessee by June 16.
In total, the SWC has fined gambling companies that it deems to be illegal a total of $600,000.
The regulator has already issued a $50,000 fine to Curaçao’s Bovada, and the renowned offshore book ceased operating in Tennessee in October. SBC Americas understands that while Bovada went offline, it did not pay the fine.
Tennessee also fined BUSR, BetUS, MyBookie and Xbet a collective $200,000. In addition, it has sent cease-and-desist orders to the likes of offshore sportsbooks Sportsbetting.ag and Lowvig and social sportsbook Legendz, the latter of which shut down in the Volunteer State in April of this year.
The Council told SBC Americas that one of its next steps will be to ask the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office to turn the fines into “fully enforceable judgments” that can be recovered against any assets it becomes aware of. The SWC is already pursuing that avenue.
“Eradicating illegal sportsbooks and their supporting businesses from Tennessee is a primary focus of the SWC,” said the Council in a press release.
The telltale signs
On its website, the SWC keeps a list of licensed operators and vendors in the state. Bet365 began taking bets in the market in March as Tennessee’s 12th authorized online sportsbook.
In its release, the Council spelled out several indicators of sportsbooks that are not legal and licensed to operate in Tennessee, including:
- Extending credit
- Offering wagering via cryptocurrency
- Offering casino games, such as slots or online poker
- Offering chance-based wagers, such as the coin toss or the color of Gatorade
“The SWC is exploring all avenues with its network of law enforcement to eliminate these bad actors from Tennessee,” added SWC Executive Director Mary Beth Thomas. “Consumers in Tennessee need to be aware that illegal operators will gladly take their money and personal information, and if a consumer does business with an illegal book, they give away their information to criminals.”
The Council stressed that, in addition to the operators themselves, any businesses in Tennessee working in conjunction with illegal offshore sportsbooks could face civil or criminal penalties.
Prediction markets also in crosshairs
Tennessee’s regulator has also had its say in the ongoing conversation around the position of prediction markets such as Kalshi, Robinhood and Crypto.com offering sports contracts across the U.S.
Thomas wrote to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in April to ask the federal derivatives market regulator to “respect the policy decisions made by the Tennessee Legislature and not permit the offering of sports events contracts.”
The Council believes that the sports event contracts that allow consumers to purchase contracts corresponding to one of two outcomes of a sporting event fall under the act’s definition of wagers and, are being offered in violation of Tennessee law and regulations.
The letter was sent ahead of the planned April 30 CFTC roundtable on prediction markets, which never actually took place.
