Tennessee Suspends Action 24/7’s Sports Betting Licenses
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Massive news has hit the sports betting scene as, seemingly for the first time ever, a sports betting license in the United States is being suspended. Tennessee’s Action 24/7 have had their licenses suspended following the first stages of an investigation regarding accepting fraudulent deposits. The investigation first started around the time of the Super Bowl when the Tennessee Education Lottery first looked into the claims.
The Accusations
According to the Tennessee Education Lottery, the sportsbook Action 24/7 failed to detect and prevent multiple suspected fraudulent credit card deposits from going through in their system. On top of this, a much more serious charge of failing to prevent deposits that were suspected to be done in an attempt to launder money was also brought up.
In Tennessee and many other states, there is an agreement in place that sportsbooks will be responsible for making sure that bettors are legally placing wagers and legally placing deposits. It seems that if these accusations are true, then Action 24/7 completely failed at this ask to put in and execute measures to prevent fraudulent and illegal deposits from going through in their system.
Licenses Suspension
Following the first findings in this investigation, it was announced that the Lottery had suspended the licenses of Action 24/7. However, the investigation is not over, and the Lottery is working with Action 24/7 to find out even more details.
At this point, it seems clear that the sportsbook will not be receiving its licensing back until it can prove to the Tennessee Education Lottery officials that it has a new system that is in place to stop fraudulent deposits. Tennessee is one of the strictest states when it comes to sports betting, but it has been successful thus far. It is not going to let sportsbooks slide and tarnish the reputation of sports wagering in the state.
Action 24/7 did release a statement on Twitter suggesting that it detected the suspicious activity quickly and suspended player accounts in a timely fashion. They also claim to be disappointed in the Tennessee Education Lottery’s decision regarding the matter.
Tennessee Market Following Suspension
While this is massive news and not a good look for sports betting, the Tennessee market should go virtually unaffected by this news. Currently, DraftKings, BetMGM, and FanDuel make up for over 95% of wagers in the state. On top of this, William Hill has recently launched, which is another trusted name in sports betting. Plus, WynnBet was approved for a license in the future.
Bettors will have plenty of options to play with, and if anything, this may simply put a nail in the coffin of Action 24/7. It seemingly is going to have no market share left, with all the big boys taking up a majority of the sports wagers.
One thing that could affect United States sports betting as a whole is how this scandal affects other small sportsbooks. This is not a good look for small sportsbooks who wish to compete with the massive corporations like DraftKings and FanDuel. Not only is their brand recognizable, but they are trusted to be safe and do things by the book.
