Now that Kentucky lawmakers fixed a historical horse racing issue last session, they could turn their attention toward legalizing sports betting in 2022.
At least that’s the hope of Rep. Adam Koenig, who has worked on legislation to legalize KY sports betting, online poker and daily fantasy sports the past two years.
In 2020, Koenig advanced his bill through committee thinking it could pass. But he got a rude awakening when a religious organization came out strongly against the bill, sinking support.
Koenig reintroduced the sports betting bill last year but left it on the backburner while focusing on historical horse racing.
With the all-important Kentucky horse racing industry saved, Koenig is ready to take another crack at sports betting. And he’s hoping the example set by passing the HHR bill helps.
How the HHR bill could help sports betting passage
When Koenig tried to move his bill in 2020, the Family Foundation of Kentucky rose and crushed it. The organization’s influence showed again last year on the day of the HHR bill’s passage.
Despite knowing that HHR had the votes to pass, representatives in the House spoke for more than two hours on their opposition to gambling expansion.
“When I first ran for office and since then, I made a commitment, I gave my word, that I would not support any legislation to expand gambling,” Rep. Danny Bentley said then. “I’m going to honor my word today.”
It’s safe to say that Bentley and many Kentucky lawmakers won’t vote for sports betting legalization no matter what.
Other lawmakers saw that they could go against the Family Foundation of Kentucky on HHR and the sky didn’t fall.
“On the HHR bill, there’s several legislators who voted yes and found out that the pushback from their base was minimal if at all,” Koenig said. “So I’m hopeful that has a positive effect on sports betting.”
Legislative turnover could also help the cause
Koenig said the past two years that there were the votes to pass sports betting in the House. And Sen. Majority Leader Damon Thayer pleaded for the House to send the bill over, saying the Senate is in full support.
The problem was a lack of support among the House Republican caucus that controls what bills are called for votes.
“If it was a secret ballot, it would pass overwhelmingly,” Koenig said.
The voting block changed since last year, with 23 new members of the Republican caucus. Koenig isn’t yet sure if the turnover will play in sports betting’s favor, but it can’t hurt.
“We’ve still got to talk to some folks to see where they’re at on sports betting,” Koenig said. “I can think of a couple seats where we had people who are a yes replacing a no. But I can think of at least one seat where a no replaced a yes, so we’ll see.”
Online poker may have to go
No other state has paired online poker with sports betting, at least not without a full online casino as well.
Koenig had a personal reason for including online poker in his original bill. He’s an avid poker player and wants a regulated way for himself and others to play online.
However, after speaking with colleagues over the past couple of years, he’s afraid that online poker could hold back the bill.
“Hopefully we can keep it there but that may be difficult,” Koenig said. “I heard from a lot of people who are interested in sports betting but not online poker. They view it as a casino game. I don’t understand their mentality but it doesn’t matter. I’m counting votes.”
Koenig said he would still introduce the bill with online poker and do his best to keep it in.
Koenig plans to slow roll sports betting effort
With the start of 2022 legislative sessions, state lawmakers around the country are rolling out their sports betting bills.
But Koenig isn’t in any rush. He said he won’t introduce the bill until sometime in February. The deadline to introduce House bills isn’t until Feb. 28.
The issue isn’t new so he plans to take his time and work on colleagues. He knows from experience that once he files the bill, opposition begins to mount.
“I filed it early in the past and it gets a lot of media attention and then they build up a lot of opposition,” Koenig said. “So I’ll run it when it’s ready to move.”
Even years present easier legislative tasks in Kentucky. The bill just needs to pass by a simple majority, and the session is longer.
Kentucky is now nearly surrounded by legal sports betting. Ohio is the latest neighboring state to Kentucky to legalize the activity.
It joins Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia with regulated sports wagering. Only Missouri is left out, and it’s also considering legislation this year.
“Ohio is 15 minutes from my home,” Koenig said. “It’s a little frustrating. But, sadly, I don’t think it will have an effect on anyone’s decision.”
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