Casinos in Tennessee
The state of Tennessee is quite notorious for its strict anti-gambling policies and lack of land-based gambling infrastructure. The state has no commercial or tribal casinos, doesn’t have a racetrack and doesn’t allow its residents to engage in gambling in the privacy on their homes. The only way to wager your money on a Tennessee-regulated game is to try the state-operated lottery. As you’d expect, Tennessee lawmakers aren’t really interested in legalizing intrastate online gambling – in the end, the state has very little to offer to dedicated gambling enthusiasts.
Tennessee Gambling Laws
Unlawful gambling is covered by Tennessee Code, Chapter 39. The Tennessee definition of gambling is vague and very unclear – generally speaking, wagering money or other valuables on luck-based activities is considered to be illegal. Fortunately, the current regulations have been designed before the advent of online gambling, which means that playing on offshore sites isn’t explicitly prohibited.
Quite obviously, state officials are free to argue that those regulations also apply to online casino games, but in the end the law simply isn’t clear or strong enough to allow for prosecution of individual online gamblers. Finally, it is worth pointing out that despite the anti-gambling nature of most relevant Tennessee laws, the punishment for placing a wager on an unlawful game isn’t all that severe. In the worst case scenario, an individual online casino customer could be charged with a Class C misdemeanor.
Online Casinos in Tennessee
Since no US-based online casino sites are allowed to offer their services to Tennessee residents, most of the local gambling enthusiasts have already turned to offshore casinos in order to pursue their hobby. Those casinos don’t really have to worry about American regulations, as they are based in countries like Canada or Antigua. The biggest advantage offshore casinos have over their American intrastate counterparts is the sheer volume of traffic they are receiving on a daily basis.
Local websites simply have no way to compete with companies that generate this kind of revenue, which means that offshore sites offer superior bonuses and larger jackpots. If that wasn’t enough, the quality of games is definitely comparable, but since many offshore sites have been around for at least a few years, they tend to exceed in terms of game selection and the quality of the available titles.
Offshore Casino Sites That Accept Tennessee Players
Even though Tennessee is one of the most anti-gambling states in the country, most US-facing offshore casinos have absolutely no qualms about accepting Tennessee-based players. The vast majority of those sites is powered by the latest generation of Real Time Gaming software, which is on par with what you’d expect from the major network online casinos available in Europe or Asia.
Please note that registering at an offshore site is actually much easier than making a successful deposit. Tennessee-based gambling enthusiasts have only a few banking methods at their disposal, so in the end most of them decide to cover their gambling expenses using their credit cards. Unfortunately, this method isn’t exactly reliable, as you might be forced to try several cards before you find the one that works. If you don’t want to assume this kind of trial and error approach, you can always try a Western Union/MoneyGram money order, which is 100% reliable, but requires you to cover a small transaction fee.
Developing Legal Scenarios
Online gambling seems to be a non-issue for most Tennessee lawmakers – the land-based industry is non-existent, the public doesn’t really care and the current law allows the few online gambling enthusiasts still left within the borders of the state to vent their frustration by playing on offshore sites. Consequently, it’s almost impossible for Tennessee to introduce any i-gaming friendly regulations in the foreseeable future.
