Tennessee regulator suspends betting operator’s license indefinitely
Tennessee Education Lottery takes immediate action after suspected fraud and money laundering attempts
Tennessee-based betting operator Action 24/7 had its license suspended indefinitely late last week after suspected credit card fraud and instances of money laundering were discovered by the state lottery.
Action 24/7 CEO Tina Hodges said in a statement on Friday that the Tennessee Education Lottery’s (TEL) board, which licenses and regulates sports betting, had suspended the operator’s license for “suspicious player deposit activity”, which partly related to bets placed during the Super Bowl LV by customers based outside of the state.
Hodges said: “This suspicious activity was detected quickly by Action staff and Action swiftly suspended the involved player accounts.
“Action instituted additional controls to curb the activity, and no further such activity has occurred since.
“Yet, the board [of the regulator] relied upon unfounded fears of future speculative recurrences of the activity and took draconian action just as the NCAA tournament is beginning,” she added.
— Action 247 (@TNAction247) March 19, 2021
The statement continued: “Obviously, we are disappointed in the board’s decision, but will continue to work with TEL staff and seek all other avenues of relief to have the suspension lifted quickly so that the people of Tennessee may continue to enjoy wagering on the Action 24/7 sportsbook.”
According to ESPN, one TEL investigator said during Friday’s board meeting that in one case, an account was opened on Action 24/7 with a $10 deposit and was followed by 184 deposit attempts from different credit and debit cards belonging to different people.
Tennessee’s online sports betting market launched last November.
Eilers and Krejcik Gaming estimated Action 24/7 had secured a 3% share of the market back in February.
First look into the opaque #TN online #sportsbetting market: Since launch (11/1/2020), GGR share distro pretty evenly split between the big 3, per our ests and checks. The results reflect a particularly strong Dec. for BetMGM. (Caveats—GGR, sample size, variance, etc.—apply.) pic.twitter.com/tK5SJn6SbN
— Chris Krafcik (@CKrafcik) February 10, 2021