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Following the legalization of sports betting in March, Caesars Sportsbook has become the first operator to announce a deal in Kentucky. Caesars announced a partnership with Keeneland and Red Mile Gaming & Racing in Lexington to run their respective brick-and-mortar retail sportsbooks in addition to their online betting app. The cooperation is the first meaningful action since HB 551 was signed by Governor Andy Beshear in March. After a protracted legislative process, the law was approved by the state Senate on the final reading, making legal sports betting in the state for people who are 18 and older possible. The Kentucky Speedway and the nine horse racetracks in the state are able to run retail sportsbooks thanks to the legislation. Each of the companies may collaborate with up to three internet bookmakers. Therefore, when Kentucky sports betting launches, as many as 27 betting apps may be active in the state’s digital environment.
In March, Kentucky became the 37th state to approve sports wagering. According to the bill, sports betting regulations must be established six months after the law takes effect (June 28), meaning Kentucky sports betting could begin operations as early as 2023 or as late as 2024.
There are about 4.5 million people in Kentucky. Online betting is already legal in six of the seven states that surround it: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee. Missouri, the seventh state, might permit betting this year as well.
According to the new Kentucky sports betting law, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission will be in charge of overseeing sports betting (KHRC). The commission is now in charge of developing the rules required to introduce and regulate betting. Credit cards and “any other means of payment recognized” by the Racing Commission are permitted under the statute for bettors.
Kentucky has a thriving college sports scene but no major league teams. But directly over the Ohio River from Covington are The Great American Ballpark, home of the Cincinnati Reds, and Paycor Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals. Less than an hour’s journey will take you from the Kentucky border to downtown Nashville, the home of the Tennessee Titans and Nashville Predators.
Beshear said to the media after signing the legislation, “For years I believed it was time for Kentucky to join so many other states and pass sports betting.” “We talk about having a competitive economic environment, but we lacked a significant industry that almost every state in our region possesses. Our money was going to places like Indiana, West Virginia, Ohio, and others.” Damon Thayer, the majority leader in the Senate, expedited the bill’s final passage. He predicts that sports betting might generate $23 million in tax revenue for the state every year. “We live in a sports-mad state, Thayer said to the media, “And people want to have the same freedom of choice to wager on a sporting event that practically all of our neighboring states do.”
