Is Sports Betting Legal in Tennessee? Yes, Online Only (2026)

Yes. Sports betting is legal in Tennessee, but online only. There are no casinos and no retail sportsbooks anywhere in the state, by design. If you’re 21+ and physically in Tennessee, you can register on any of the state’s 9 licensed apps (FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, and more) and bet within minutes. If you’re looking for a betting window, there isn’t one, anywhere.

Tennessee’s market is one of the most distinctive in the country: the first online-only state, the only state that taxes betting handle instead of revenue, and home to one of the stricter college-betting rules. Here’s everything that actually matters.

Quick facts

The 9 licensed sportsbooks in Tennessee

Per the Sports Wagering Council’s licensee list, Tennessee’s online books in 2026 are:

Tennessee’s roster has shrunk three times in seven months, from twelve books to nine. This is the most useful thing on this page, because almost every “best Tennessee sportsbooks” list you will find is still selling you books that no longer exist here:

• Betly (Delaware North) stopped taking Tennessee bets on December 29, 2025. It still operates in Arkansas, Ohio, and West Virginia, so it did not shut down, it left Tennessee.
• Action 24/7, the only Tennessee-based book, stopped accepting wagers on or about January 16, 2026. Its founder blamed the handle tax directly.
• VIP Play went last and quietest. It notified the Council on April 6, 2026 that it was discontinuing wagering, received approval in mid-April, and made customers withdraw their balances by May 10, 2026. That was a voluntary exit the Council approved, not a revocation or a lapsed license.

The Council publishes the licensees as a list with no running total, so any number you see is somebody’s count of that list, including ours. Count it yourself before you trust it.

One footnote worth knowing: theScore Bet is the rebranded ESPN BET. Penn Entertainment retired the ESPN branding and moved its sportsbook back to theScore identity. Same license, new name on the app store; the SWC’s own licensee list records Penn Sports Interactive as “Branded as theScore Bet.”

The first online-only state

When Tennessee launched on November 1, 2020, it became the first U.S. state to run a legal market with no physical sportsbooks at all, a direct consequence of having no casinos to put them in. Instead of tying licenses to casino properties like almost every other state, Tennessee issues standalone online licenses. Regulation started under the Tennessee Education Lottery and moved in 2022 to a dedicated Sports Wagering Council.

Two more Tennessee quirks shape the market:

• The handle tax. Since July 2023, Tennessee taxes sportsbooks 1.85% of handle (total amount wagered) rather than a percentage of revenue. It is the only state in the country that does it this way. You don’t pay this directly, but it quietly shapes the odds and promotions operators can afford to offer in Tennessee. It is not a rounding error, either: Tennessee’s roughly $443 million of May 2026 handle generated about $8.1 million in privilege tax, owed whether the books won or lost that month. That math is exactly why Action 24/7, the state’s only homegrown book, stopped taking bets in mid-January 2026, with its founder blaming the handle tax directly. A book has to pay 1.85% of every dollar wagered even in a losing month, which the smallest operators could not survive.
• The old 10% hold rule is gone. Tennessee originally required books to keep at least 10% of wagers annually, effectively mandating worse prices for bettors. The handle tax replaced it, which was good news for anyone comparing Tennessee odds to other states.

How betting works in Tennessee

• 21 or older, identity-verified at signup.
• Physically inside Tennessee when placing bets. Apps verify by geolocation. Live in Memphis and cross into Mississippi for a casino trip? Your Tennessee apps pause until you’re back across the line (Mississippi’s own betting is casino-premises only).
• Full menus on pro sports: spreads, moneylines, totals, player props, parlays, live betting.
• Deposits and withdrawals are fully digital. There’s no casino cage in the state. PayPal, online banking, and debit are standard; payout speed depends on the book, typically 1 to 3 days.

Getting started takes about five minutes: download any of the nine licensed apps, confirm you are 21 or older with an ID check, allow location access so the app can verify you are inside Tennessee, deposit, and bet. You do not need to be a Tennessee resident, only physically present in the state, so visitors can bet the same as locals.

The college betting rules

This is the rule set that trips people up:

• ✅ You can bet on college games: spreads, moneylines, totals, and futures, including on in-state programs like the Vols, Memphis, and Vanderbilt.
• ❌ You cannot bet college player props. Wagers on an individual college athlete’s stats (passing yards, points, touchdowns) are prohibited under SWC Rule 1350-03-.09, a protection aimed at insulating student-athletes from harassment and manipulation pressure. Regulators have enforced it: a licensed book was cited in the market’s early years for accepting a prohibited college prop.
• The NCAA has pushed for exactly this rule nationally, and several states have adopted versions of it. Tennessee was ahead of the curve. Missouri, the newest legal market, launched in December 2025 with a narrower version: only props on Missouri-college athletes are banned.
• Lawmakers keep testing tighter rules. A 2026 bill (HB 1768) would have forced sportsbooks to geofence off public college campuses on game days, but it failed on a 3-4 committee vote in March 2026. The player-prop ban remains the only college protection actually in force.

What’s still illegal

• Online casino games and poker. Tennessee’s framework covers sports wagering only. Any “casino app” claiming to serve Tennessee is offshore and unregulated.
• Betting under 21, betting from outside state lines, and betting with unlicensed books. The nine licensed apps above are the complete legal universe. Betting with an operator that is not on the Council’s list is a crime under Tenn. Code Ann. 39-17-502, which is the practical reason the roster matters.

Tennessee is one of the two states in the July 30 prediction-market case

Prediction markets, where you trade a contract on a game’s outcome rather than place a bet with a sportsbook, are the live legal fight in Tennessee, and most state guides miss that Tennessee is at the center of it.

Tennessee tried to shut Kalshi out and lost in federal court. On February 19, 2026, US District Judge Aleta Trauger in Nashville granted Kalshi a preliminary injunction against state officials, blocking Tennessee from enforcing its gambling laws against the platform while the case proceeds. She denied it as to the Sports Wagering Council itself, and Kalshi posted a $500,000 bond. Tennessee appealed.

That appeal is now half of the biggest prediction-market case in the country. The Sixth Circuit heard argument on July 30, 2026 in two consolidated cases: Tennessee’s (where a judge sided with Kalshi) and Ohio’s (where a judge went the other way and refused Kalshi an injunction in March 2026). One panel, two opposite trial-court results, taken back to back. An argument date is not a decision date: no ruling had issued as of July 31, 2026, and one can take weeks or months.

So the practical position for a Tennessean today: Kalshi operates here under a court order that the state is actively trying to overturn. That is a contested product, not a settled loophole. For the national picture, see our California guide; for the state that went furthest, Minnesota enacted the country’s first felony ban and a federal judge blocked it on July 27, 2026 before it took effect.

Responsible gambling in Tennessee

Every licensed Tennessee app is required to offer responsible-gambling tools: deposit and wager limits, cooling-off timeouts, and self-exclusion through the Sports Wagering Council. If betting stops being fun, the Tennessee REDLINE (1-800-889-9789) is a free, confidential 24-hour helpline, and the national 1-800-GAMBLER line also applies. These protections are exactly what unlicensed offshore sites do not provide, which is the practical reason to stick with the nine legal apps. Setting a deposit limit before your first bet is the single easiest way to keep betting fun rather than a problem.

FAQ

Why doesn’t Tennessee have casinos? State law has never authorized them, a long-standing political reality. Online-only sports betting passed in 2019 precisely because it didn’t require building any.

Can I bet in person at a casino in Tennessee? No. Tennessee has no casinos and no retail sportsbooks of any kind. All legal betting is on the nine licensed apps. If a business is offering in-person sports betting in Tennessee, it is not legal.

Can I bet on the Titans, Grizzlies, Predators, and Vols? Yes. All in-state pro and college teams are fully bettable (college player props excepted).

Is DraftKings legal in Tennessee? Yes. DraftKings is one of the nine licensed apps, alongside FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars, bet365, Fanatics, theScore Bet, Hard Rock Bet, and Bally Bet. All nine are fully legal and regulated by the Sports Wagering Council.

Which app is best in Tennessee? All nine offer the same legal protections; they differ on odds quality, promos, and app experience. The national brands have the deepest menus. Tennessee no longer has a homegrown option after Action 24/7 stopped taking bets in mid-January 2026.

Is daily fantasy legal in Tennessee? Yes. DFS was legalized separately in 2016 and operates alongside sports betting.

Do I owe taxes on Tennessee betting winnings? Yes, at the federal level. Tennessee has no state income tax on gambling winnings, but they are still taxable federal income, and apps issue a W-2G form above federal reporting thresholds. The 1.85% handle tax is paid by the sportsbooks, not by you.

How big is Tennessee’s betting market? Large for a state its size. Tennesseans wager on the order of $450 million a month, which is why even with a shrinking operator list the nine remaining books compete hard on odds and promotions. Online-only has not held the market back.

Sources

• Tennessee SWC: approved licensees & registrants (official list)
• PlayTenn: what prop bets are allowed in Tennessee
• Fox Sports: Tennessee sports betting overview
• American Gaming Association: Tennessee regulatory fact sheet (2025)