Legal sports betting pros and cons

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (WDEF)-  “Being able to set a limit for yourself about how much you’re willing to bet, how much you’re willing to lose a to be able to walk away when you hit that limit if you can’t walk away that’s a red flag,” said Executive Director of TAADAS, Mary Linden Salter.

Before November, the only gambling legal in Tennessee was the lottery, but now people in Tennessee can use multiple apps to sports bet. 

“For the customer the more competition the better because these big names competing with each other is going to lead to better promotions and sign-up bonuses and honestly better lines,” said content editor for playTenn.com, Nicole Russo.

Tennessee became the fastest state to wager more than $1 billion.

Through this Tennessee has collected $18.3 million in privilege tax. 

80 percent of the privilege tax is spent on school scholarships and grants. 15 percent is spent on state infrastructure projects and 5 percent funds state addiction treatment. 

“Currently, it’s going to fund college scholarships and a lot of higher education initiatives and a lot of Tennessee lawmakers actually are petitioning for that money to come back to the K through 12 school system. Tennessee is also allocating money for responsible gambling programs and those resources are going to make it easier for them the help that they need,” said Russo.

With nearly everything, there are pros and cons and Salters says as sports betting access has increased in Tennessee so has the increase in addiction calls related to gambling. 

“Gambling disorder calls doubled sometimes quadrupled depending on the month,” said Salter.

Salters said how quickly calls came in regarding a potential sports gambling addiction was surprising. 

“That is a level of recognition that usually takes more contemplation,” said Salter.