Gambling in Tennessee has a short history.
But within that short history, it has already made differences in education, pumping millions of dollars into scholarships and after-school programs, state records show.
Ticket sales continue to jump annually, even locally.
Over the last five years, ticket sales in Sullivan County have grown by $8 million and by $3.7 million in Hawkins County.
Lottery ticket sales such as that have led to an increase of more than $100 million in education funding by the Tennessee Lottery over the last five years, along with an increase of around $3.7 million in afterschool care funding.
The Tennessee Lottery has been game changing.
As the Hard Rock Casino opens in Bristol, the short history of Tennessee’s foray into gambling has shown that it can be lucrative and changing for state and local economies.
The newest form of gambling in Tennessee has been the advent of sports betting.
The Tennessee General Assembly approved allowing sports betting just three years ago, but state records show it is already becoming a money machine.
In 2020, for its first two months, the state collected $5.5 million in privilege tax. The second year saw $40.6 million collected and throughout this year the state has collected $22.8 million, as of May.
The first ticket for the Tennessee Lottery was sold on Jan. 20, 2003, and $10.8 million in ticket sales were generated on that day alone, according to the Tennessee Lottery.
The biggest of the games include Powerball and Mega Millions.
The push toward the state lottery first started in 2000 when the Tennessee General Assembly approved allowing a statewide referendum.
By 2002, the referendum passed, with 58% of the vote saying yes.
The referendum allowed the state to change its constitution, allowing lottery sales to progress as long as the money went toward college scholarship funding, K-12 capital projects or afterschool programs.
By 2004, the Tennessee Lottery joined in its first multi-state game, Powerball.
During its first year, the lottery generated $836.4 million in ticket sales.
It has since grown past $1 billion, according to Tennessee Lottery figures.
Then in 2005, the lottery saw its first Powerball winner, with a South Pittsburg woman collecting more than $25 million in winnings.
Sports betting, however, has been a relatively new venture.
Across the United States, sports betting was illegal from 1992 to 2018. But in 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal legislation and sports betting once again became legalized.
This led Tennessee to pass legislation allowing online sports betting within the state, but not in person. The first sports bets were taken in November 2020.
The Tennessee Sports Wagering Act also places stipulations on what the revenue can be used for within the state.
The Act states that 80% of the privilege tax revenue collected goes to the Lottery for Education Account, 15% goes to the general fund for infrastructure projects for local governments and 5% of the money goes to the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse for responsible gambling initiatives.
Tennessee’s HOPE scholarship is one of the mechanisms of Tennessee Lottery and Sports Betting funding that is funding students going to college.
According to state records, Tennessee students who graduated from an eligible high school are able to take advantage of the program.
The potential student must have made at least a 21 on the ACT and have an overall grade point average of 3.0.
They then must go to an eligible Tennessee college.
The student can then receive up to $2,250 a semester for taking a full-time workload for their first two years and then during their junior and senior years can receive up to $2,850 a semester at a four-year institution.
For those going to two-year colleges, they can receive $1,600 a semester.
But college students aren’t the only jackpot winners.
Stores selling lottery tickets get a commission as well.
State records show that in 2017, more than $104 million in commissions were paid out to retailers. By 2021, that number grew to $136.4 million.
Locally, retailers in Sullivan and Hawkins counties earned $2.3 million and $806,000 in 2021.
This is compared to $1.75 million and $559,000 in 2017.
The likelihood for casino gambling is still far off in the future, though, for Tennessee.
Casinos are illegal within the state and the state’s Constitution prohibits it.
Speculation recently started when the Eastern Band of the Cherokee bought property in Kodak within Sevier County, just miles away from Sevierville and Pigeon Forge.
Nation leaders, though, have said at this point they plan to build a multi-use development, mostly made of retail properties, with no eye on building a casino.
Now, though, people can cross the border into Virginia to get in some game time and gambling at the new Hard Rock Casino, which parent company HRI is owned by the Seminole Tribe in Florida.
https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/news/appalachian_highlands/tennessee-lottery-sports-betting-making-impact-in-state/article_ab053dfc-b777-5cbf-b6c5-eb5742fa158d.html