Opinion: Kentucky, Mitch McConnell Could Make Sports Betting A National Priority

Written By Chris Gerlacher on May 31, 2023 - Last Updated on June 21, 2023
How Kentucky, Mitch McConnell could make sports betting national focus, from playkentucky.com

Kentucky conservatives have a ruthlessly effective representative in Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell.

McConnell masterminded large expansions of conservative power. This included blocking Merrick Garland from the Supreme Court only to confirm three Supreme Court justices during Donald Trump’s presidency. His patient preparation helps his ability to secure political power for Republicans. He reflects on this skill in his memoir, The Long Game.

When Sen. Larry Craig approached McConnell in 2002 about wanting to run for whip, McConnell already had secured the necessary votes.

“Once again applying the maxim that you can start too late but never too soon, I had begun, as early as May of 2001, one and a half years prior to the leadership vote, to roll up enough support to get me elected,” McConnell wrote. “Larry never saw it coming.”

McConnell is one of Washington’s most strategic politicians. Therefore, he makes the voters who keep him in power potentially important. The will of his constituents could influence what he wants to be done at the national level.

As a result, he could make a dent in the national policy agenda.

If Kentucky’s sports betting launch sparks concerns from McConnell’s would-be voters, Kentucky sports betting could be the catalyst for a uniform federal sports betting policy.

Consequences of sports betting expansion

The expansion of sports betting has had important consequences. Problem gambling helpline call volumes tripled in Ohio after its sports betting launch. In New Jersey, problem gambling helpline calls tripled from 2018, when New Jersey legalized and launched sports betting, to 2022.

They reflect the increased problem gambling concerns from patients and their loved ones. The trend is a result of easy access to online gambling.

Online sports betting could bring a potentially formative case to the Supreme Court as part of a larger gaming compact dispute.

In Florida, the Seminole Tribe was sued by two pari-mutuel facilities for offering online sports betting on non-tribal land. A US District Court judge ruled the compact that allowed it violated federal law.

Both the tribe and the federal government appealed the case. It’s currently awaiting a ruling by the DC Court of Appeals. But many legal experts believe the losing party will appeal it a step further regardless of the ruling.

That puts the case in the hands of the US Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court could reaffirm the tribal right to regulate gambling. Furthermore, the panel could affirm its right to offer online gambling to customers outside of tribal land. In an unlikely but possible scenario, tribes could also have their gambling rights limited.

These developments beg the question of why sports betting hasn’t become a national policy issue.

In his book Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, John Kingdon explores how issues get on the government agenda.

How political issues become national issues

President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law in 2010. Upon signing the legislation, he delivered on hopes for a national health care plan that dated back to President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration.

In other words, health care fits the bill for how an issue gains the federal government’s attention.

According to Kingdon, there are three “streams” that must align for it to happen:

  • Problems
  • Politics
  • Visible participants

Problems

A problem that surfaces through a troubling story can focus Congress’ and the president’s attention on an issue. Testimonials of people choosing between medicine and paying food bills were one example.

Politics

There also has to be a political demand to address an issue for elected officials to take notice.

In 2022, Jon Stewart lobbied to pass the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act. The Act ensured cancers and other illnesses caused by burn pits, Agent Orange and other toxic exposures were covered by Veterans Affairs health plans.

As part of his effort, Stewart went on FOX News and Newsmax. He pressured conservative members of Congress who were blocking its passage. Stewart went straight to where conservative voters were watching to turn their rage on their elected representatives. The national mood was ripe for expanding veterans’ health care benefits.

Thus, Congress passed the PACT Act.

Visible participants

Finally, an issue requires visible participants to bring national attention to it. If the president, their executive appointees or members of Congress are vocal about an issue, that issue receives more attention.

Each member influences which bills are prioritized for mark-up sessions in congressional committees. As a result, those members decide which bills are in the pool of possible legislation that can get to a floor vote.

ALSO READ: Here’s How Kentucky GOP Governor Candidates Feel About Sports Gambling

Why sports betting isn’t a national issue

While plenty of news and analysis surrounds sports betting expansion, it hasn’t registered as an urgent national issue.

Problem gambling is an issue, but it’s not the visceral harm of opioid addiction, especially with the recent introduction of horse tranquilizers into street drugs. Sports betting is also not the politically fraught topic that abortion, gun violence or book bans are.

While members of Congress may be quietly consulting relevant experts on sports betting advertising policy, no national figure has publicly made sports betting their pet issue. President Joe Biden is focused on the debt ceiling negotiations, and none of his executive appointees have made it an issue, either.

The two most likely ways for sports betting to make the national agenda are a graphic scandal or a change in the national mood.

The first college student-athlete assaulted by a disgruntled bettor could bring sports betting to the national agenda. Enough voters could contact their elected officials about gambling ads they find intrusive or problematic to encourage politicians to make themselves seen addressing a troubling aspect of sports betting expansion.

RELATED: Kentucky Wise To Use National Hotline For Problem Gambling, Not State-Specific Number

Kentucky sports betting and national policy

“In politics, there are two kinds of people: those who want to make a point, and those who want to make a difference,” McConnell wrote of the 1995 government shutdown under House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

It was a political ploy that McConnell disapproved of then and in subsequent shutdown standoffs because he considered it damaging to the Republican Party.

If a sports betting issue, whether it’s intrusive advertising, underage betting or customer security, is something the Republican Party can use to its advantage, McConnell would be a key figure in deciding how to leverage the issue.

Kentucky sportsbooks could find themselves in a political battleground if McConnell or his voters are sufficiently perturbed by some part of the industry’s rollout. It’s unlikely that sports betting will inflame passions enough to draw McConnell’s attention, especially with Trump’s presidential campaign and other major issues that impact the GOP nationally in the spotlight.

However, that political calculus will change depending on who sets policy priorities from the White House in 2025. Administration changes also bring policy priority changes, complicating sports betting’s hypothetical path to national prominence.

Photo by AP / Susan Walsh
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Chris Gerlacher

Christopher Gerlacher is the lead writer for PlayKentucky. He is a versatile, experienced writer with a portfolio that ranges from political and legislative pieces to sports and sports betting. Gerlacher is a devout Broncos fan, for better or for worse, living in the foothills of Arvada, CO.

View all posts by Chris Gerlacher