Will TN Volunteer for Online Gambling in 2014?

As one of just 10 states in the US that has not supported gambling as positively as other states, either in the brick-and-mortar or virtual sense, Tennessee may be on the verge of changing its gambling attitude. The worldwide economic collapse which began in 2008 is still being felt in the Volunteer State, and many of that state's residents are volunteering Tennessee for inclusion into the burgeoning Internet gambling industry which was launched in the United States in 2013. There is a segment of the Tennessee population which has expressed a desire to embrace Tennessee online casinos and poker sites.

The fact that there is still not a nationwide piece of federal legislation delivering gambling options for Tennessee residents means a state-sponsored action will be required. And in Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware, gambling has already been successfully launched online, with the state's physical casinos and government budgets benefiting as headquarters of those operations. In less than the first two months of delivering virtual casino and poker options to its residents, New Jersey has seen more than 100,000 player accounts opened.

That type of support, and in the early goings Delaware and Nevada have also been pleased with their numbers, could lead states like Tennessee to legalize some type of Internet gambling options for its residents. The executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, John Pappas, speaks for the 1.2 million poker enthusiasts in his nonprofit organization when he points to the success of the early US states entering the Internet gambling industry. And while the recent December meeting of Washington, DC lawmakers to discuss possibly legalizing Internet gambling resulted in no legislation passing on either side of the issue, the talks were positive.

Representative Marsha Blackburn is a Republican from Tennessee, and she pointed out that during the December 2013 congressional hearing on Internet gambling, she was involved with a massive stream of Twitter messages from Tennessee poker players which were anxious to be updated as to how the hearings were going. Blackburn could become a central point for proposing gambling options for Tennessee in the future, and these could include land-based offerings as well as the virtual versions.

In a state which is devoid of gambling casinos, both real and web-based, many players still access legitimately licensed and legally certified offshore Web casinos, sportsbooks and poker rooms to place bets online. The Tennessee Volunteers and Tennessee Titans are football teams which are fanatically supported in that state. But the current state of gambling means illegal and possibly disreputable bookmakers in the state take any football bets, or the money goes offshore. And the recent rebirth of online poker in the US has no doubt a rabid Tennessee fan base, as indicated by Representative Blackburn's recent Twitter experience. All that money which is going offshore currently could stay right at home in Tennessee.

Licensing and tax revenue would also be substantial, and though Tennessee showed an Economic Performance rank of 23 out of the 50 US states in 2013, that is substantially down from an Economic Outlook rank of 3 in 2008, according to the respected Alec-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index. As more states like California and Pennsylvania get on board the Internet gambling industry bandwagon this year to help cure financial woes, the Volunteer State should not ignore the possibility of online wagering options to immediately and substantially deliver much-needed revenue, as the player support is already in place.

Trusted and Secure Tennessee Online Casinos

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