Leaving two components out of a sports betting bill in Kentucky might be the key to finally bringing the legal sports industry to the Bluegrass State in 2023.
House Bill 551, which was filed by Rep. Michael Meredith this week, proposes allowing the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to oversee retail sportsbooks at the state’s nine tracks as well as licenses to multiple online sports betting sites.
Meredith hopes to right some wrongs from a previous attempt at legalized sports betting in Kentucky.
The state has had two other bills introduced that didn’t gain enough traction, mainly because of what else was included. HB 606 made it through the Kentucky House last year before dying quickly on the Senate floor.
HB 106 was proposed in January, but, like its predecessor, contained legalizing online poker and fantasy sports with the sports betting attempt.
Meredith said those have been hangups with the Senate, so he left those two elements out this time around.
“We focused the bill solely on sports wagering,” Meredith told LEX18. “And then we wanted to make sure that we were able to create a regulatory structure that would work for the racing commission.”
Details on the bill
If passed, the Democratic-led bill would allow each racing track to partner with as many as three mobile sportsbooks for a total of 27 licenses.
Each track would be responsible for a $500,000 initial licensing fee with an annual $50,000 to renew the license. Sports betting operators would have to pay $50,000 for the initial fee and $10,000 annually for renewal.
The racing commission would be tasked with determining who gets those licenses, regulating them, and determining which sports can be wagered on at sportsbooks.
The tax rate to generate revenue for Kentucky remains the same as the previous bill: 9.75% for retail and 14.25% for online on adjusted gross revenue.
Is this the year?
Kentucky is an awkward spot geographically when it comes to legal sports betting. The Commonwealth is surrounded by Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, and Tennessee. All of those states have some form of legal sports betting in place.
Sportsbook operators like DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars, BetMGM, and others are already established brands in those states. They would likely be ready to pounce at the opportunity to get involved in Kentucky, where horse racing is a massive draw.
That could help spur this legislature to be the one that adds Kentucky to the list, but it won’t be easy. The bill was proposed by 12 Democrats in a Republican-led legislature.
