New Kentucky sports betting bill has bipartisan support
Legislation would give regulatory oversight to Horse Racing Commission
Kentucky has tried and failed to legalize sports betting multiple times since the fall of PASPA, but a new bill filed in the statehouse has lawmakers optimistic that 2023 may finally be the year online wagering comes to the Bluegrass State.
HB 551, which would give regulatory oversight of sports betting to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, was formally filed on February 22 by Republican state Representative Michael Meredith.
The bill notably has bipartisan support, with six Democrats and five Republicans signed on as co-sponsors. That represents a departure from previous sports betting bills – including a House bill filed in January that is sponsored exclusively by the Democrats.
The primary difference between HB 551 and previous bills is the former does not include online poker or fantasy sports.
“[This bill] removes online poker and fantasy contests, which seem to be a problem over in the Senate and in discussions from last year,” Meredith said in a recent interview with WLEX-TV. “We focused the bill solely on sports wagering.”
HB 551 would leverage Kentucky’s nine licensed horse tracks as the primary licensees, with each one eligible to partner with up to three online skins. That could give way to a competitive market with up to 27 operators.
The racetracks would be required to pay an upfront fee of $500,000 for a license in addition to an annual renewal fee of $50,000, while the license fees for online skins would be $50,000 and $10,000, respectively.
Adjusted gross revenue would be taxed at a 9.75% rate for retail operators and 14.25% for online.
In-person registration would be mandated for the first year before a transition to mobile registration, while betting would be permitted on a wide range of sports such as the Olympics, esports, and college sports – including, most notably, in-state college teams.
This marks the fifth consecutive year a sports betting bill has been filed in Kentucky. During that time all but one of its seven bordering states have legalized online wagering, with Ohio the most recent in 2023.