If it feels like déjà vu in the Kentucky legislature, it’s understandable.
Kentucky legislators filed a Kentucky sports betting bill for the second time in as many years. Rep. Derrick Graham, a Democrat, introduced House Bill 106 for this year’s legislative session.
The bill would legalize retail and online sports betting. It would allow the state’s hose tracks to operate brick-and-mortar sportsbooks. The bill calls for a 14.25% tax on adjusted gross revenue by licensed operators.
With Ohio launching its legal sports betting market in January, Kentucky is nearly surrounded by states with sports betting. Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia, Virginia, and Tennessee all have legal sports betting markets of some type. Many legislators in Kentucky see the failure to pass sports betting legislation as a missed opportunity for tax revenue.
Additionally, polls show citizens in the Bluegrass state support legal sports betting.
But lawmakers must do yeoman’s work in a short legislative session to pass a sports betting bill. In 2022, a similar bill passed the House twice but stalled in the Kentucky Senate.
Governor Andy Beshear, one of the only Democrats elected to a statewide office, fully supports legalized sports wagering in his state.
Republicans Split on Sports Betting Bill
In 2022, Republicans could not come to a consensus on a sports betting bill, despite support from Senate leader Damon Thayer. This year, the majority will need to coalesce to pass a bill that would bring legal sports betting to Kentucky after years of failure.
Gov. Beshear has blamed a few Senate holdouts and has challenged the legislative branch to catch up with other states which have legalized sports betting and gathered millions in taxes.
In 2023, there’s another barrier: this legislative season requires a two-thirds majority vote of support to pass in both houses. That means supporters of a sports betting bill will need to pick up one more vote in the House to improve in a 58-30 tally from 2022. The Senate needs 26 votes in its 38-member chamber for passage.
Bill overhauls Kentucky gambling market
Details of HB 106 show an effort to make significant changes to the way Kentucky handles gaming:
- The legal betting age would be 18, which is younger than many states that have it set at 21.
- Legalizes online poker.
- Allows betting on college sports, including in-state schools.
- Racetracks could partner with as many as two sports betting companies to have as many as two retail sportsbooks on-site.
- Racetracks could also make deals with commercial sportsbooks to have one online sports betting app.
- Taxes retail sportsbooks at 9.75 and online sportsbooks at 14.25%.
- Earmarks sports betting tax revenue for Kentucky’s Permanent Pension Fund.
Horse racing is the only sport Kentuckians can currently bet on. Furthermore, horse racing is structured through pari-mutuel wagering and not fixed-odds betting.
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