Tennessee hires Jennifer Roberts as director of sports betting program

Tennessee released proposed rules and hired a director for its online-only sports betting program. Nevada gaming law veteran Jennifer Roberts, previously Associate Director at the UNLV’s International Center for Gaming Regulation, became Monday the director of sports gaming regulation for the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp. 

Though there’s still no indication of when people can start placing bets, at Tennessee’s first state sports betting advisory council meeting held on Nov. 21, ex-Tennessee Lottery official and current consultant Wanda Young Wilson said draft rules would be sent to council members and then posted online. Thirty days of public and council comment will follow before the lottery board considers the rules, and vendor applications will come next, the Associated Press reported.

Wilson said Tennessee has struggled without a blueprint as the first state with only mobile sports betting and wants to do it right. There’s no deadline for betting to start up.

Roberts is in charge of helping to create some rules and regulations for the state of Tennessee to abide by, and she is also in charge of setting a timeline to get sports betting up and running. Gaming Institute Executive Director Bo Bernhard has said that an international search will be conducted to fill her post.

Tennessee is hoping to get the application process going as soon as the calendar flips to 2020 in hopes of launching sometime next spring.