This year in the United States, millions of people had the ability to wager on the Super Bowl, be it online or in person. The sports betting market has grown considerably over the past few months, creating more opportunities for bettors in various states. In Tennessee, sports bettors may have experienced a little too much ‘opportunity.’ The Tennessee Education Lottery is reporting that two of the four regulated operators for sports betting saw illegal bets take place connected to the big game.
Significant Anomalies
During a recent meeting, the board of directors for the Lottery said that the industry saw significant anomalies within two of its sports betting operators. Due to the activity, a total of 74 accounts have been closed within the two platforms.
Several of the bets placed on the game have been voided. Additional details on what exactly happened have not been provided at this time. The investigation is ongoing, so we expect more information to be released in the near future.
The lottery did not allow non-football prop-type bets as requested by operators for the game. Other states did allow such betting, like wagers on what color Gatorade would be poured on the winning coach after the game. So far, the lottery has not revealed what type of bets were suspicious.
In total, the four providers saw $15.5 million in bets placed on the Super Bowl. A total of $12.6 million was paid out to winners. The remainder was kept by the operators as revenue.
Monthly Handle
The four sportsbooks have been quite busy over the past few months. In November, just over $131 million in bets were placed. By December, the state took in over $180 million. By January, the state was at the $210 million mark.
Tennessee tends to be in the middle when it comes to its sports betting industry when compared to other states. The state is taking in more than Iowa but less 7BALL than Indiana and of course larger sports betting states like New Jersey.
The Garden State was the sports betting leader in January, having handled over $958 million in sports bets.
