This means that in many cases, residents here must travel to neighboring states to get their fix of casino gaming, horse racing, or other forms of betting. Some also choose to play online instead, though they must do so on foreign websites, as the state does not run its own regulated Internet gambling market, unlike New Jersey which has successfully grown their industry.
Recent Changes Open Limited Market
Like most states in the USA, Tennessee began with a constitution that banned gambling. And, like much of the South, the state’s conservative nature made it difficult for this to change over the years. However, unlike others, Tennessee has largely held firmly to those roots, resisting most attempts to bring any form of gaming industry within our borders.
That means that there are no casinos here, and there have been no significant attempts to bring any in recent memory. Surprisingly, given our proximity to Kentucky, there is also no horse racing here: while the sport was once popular, parimutuel betting has been illegal for over a century now, effectively killing off the pastime.
The first crack in the gambling landscape came in 2002. That’s when the state’s General Assembly passed an amendment to the state constitution in order to put an educational lottery into place. Voters would later approve the change in a referendum, and by early 2004, the first tickets were being sold. Today, the state participates in Powerball and Mega Millions (among other multistate games), as well as running its own drawings. Interestingly, numbers for lottery games here aren’t drawn using balls, but rather with a random number generator.
The only other form of betting allowed in the state is charitable gaming, and even that is very limited in scope. Brought about in 2010 in response to flooding in the state, the rules allow qualified tax-exempt organizations to hold exactly one raffle each year, provided that they properly apply to do so. Even events that are usually allowed in other fairly conservative states, such as bingo nights, are considered illegal here.
Even Tennessee’s Native American tribes have not run any gambling operations. Back in 2008, the Attorney General’s office said that if any of the recognized tribes were also to gain federal recognition, they would be able to conduct such activities on their land thanks to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, but so far, little-to-no action as taking place toward making this occur.
