Online Casinos in Tennessee

Tennessee Licenses No Casino Gaming, Online or Otherwise

Tennessee is one of the few states with no commercial casino industry of any kind, and it licenses no online casino. The exclusion runs deep enough to reach charitable events: the Secretary of State's own guidance on what a permitted gaming event may not include lists "Poker games and/or tournaments, pull-tabs, punchboards, video lottery games, instant and online lottery games, keno, and games of chance associated with casinos including, but not limited to slot machines, roulette wheels, and the like."

In 2026 the General Assembly legislated directly on online play. Senate Bill 2136 of the 114th General Assembly was "AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4; Title 4, Chapter 49; Title 8, Chapter 6, Part 4; Title 40, Chapter 2 and Title 47, relative to illegal activity.", and the Assembly's own record states that "SB2136 has been assigned Public Chapter Number 1117 by the Secretary of State." Its enacted summary reads: "Gambling - As enacted, clarifies that gambling, the operation or possession of gambling devices, and the operation, conducting, or commercial promoting of online sweepstakes games and other forms of online or app-based gambling are unlawful and a violation of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act". This site does not point readers at operators that are not licensed where they are.

Online Sweepstakes Games Are Named in the 2026 Act

Tennessee did not leave the sweepstakes casino model to be argued about under general gambling law. The 2026 public chapter names online sweepstakes games alongside other forms of online or app-based gambling, makes their operation, conducting and commercial promotion unlawful, and treats a violation as an unfair or deceptive act under the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act. The same act expands the authority of the sports wagering council to investigate illegal gambling and gaming activity and the investigative authority of the attorney general.

Sweepstakes casinos and real-money casinos are separate products and neither is presented here as a licensed version of the other.

Online Sports Betting Is Licensed, Online Casino Is Not

The contrast matters more in Tennessee than in most states, because sports wagering there has no land-based component at all and is conducted entirely online. The regulator describes its own remit this way: "The Sports Wagering Council (“SWC”) is responsible for regulating online sports wagering and fantasy sports in Tennessee." It licenses online sportsbooks and publishes the list, and it states plainly that "It is illegal to bet on sports in Tennessee with any operator not listed above." and that "If you bet in Tennessee on an offshore, unlicensed sportsbook, you are committing a crime under Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-17-502."

None of that carries over to casino games. A state can run a fully licensed statewide online sports betting market and license no online casino at all, and Tennessee is the clearest example of it. A reader who sees licensed sports betting apps available in Tennessee should not infer that online slots or table games are licensed there, because they are not.