Kentucky state Senator Damon Thayer, who sponsored the state’s sports betting bill HB 551, said this week that Kentucky sports betting should launch during football season this year.
Governor Andy Beshear signed the Kentucky sports betting bill into law on March 31, and since then, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has been working on the launch.
The Commission’s Chairman, Jonathan Rabinowitz, updated Sen. Thayer recently on the target launch window.
“I got an update last week from the chairman of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission,” Thayer told The Lines. “And he still feels pretty optimistic that football season is a real possibility. Whether sports betting would be ready to go for the opening of the NFL season or some point during the season is to be determined.”
Thayer has said that Kentucky sports betting could bring an estimated $23 million in tax revenue each year.
What’s in the Kentucky Sports Betting Bill?
The sports betting bill — or HB 551 — signed by Gov. Beshear allocates sports betting licenses to Kentucky’s nine horse racing tracks and gives each track up to three online skins. That means the state could have up to 27 online sportsbooks.
The final draft of the bill dropped online poker and daily fantasy sports.
The bill sets a mobile betting tax of 14.25% and an in-person betting tax of 9.75%. It sets the legal betting age lower than most states at 18.
What if the Kentucky Sports Betting Launch is Delayed?
If they don’t make it during football season, Thayer said that sportsbooks should be live at the latest before the new year.
“It would hopefully be long before that,” Thayer said in an interview with The Lines. “Because the legislature gave the racing commission a six-month window…and it has to be launched by the end of the year.”
Bill HB 551 gives six months from the effective date of legalization (June 28) for the state to fully launch. That means Kentucky’s first online sportsbooks should be live at the latest by December 28, 2023.
Launching by the start of the NFL season is quite an accelerated timeline compared to other states. Sportsbooks still have to apply and go through the approval process. It’s plausible, though the NFL payoffs might be a more likely bet.
Challenges to Sports Betting Launch Timeline
The journey from legalization to launch is often punctuated by hurdles. In some states, like Massachusetts, which went live just this year, that journey takes months. Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed the state’s sports betting bill into law in August 2022, but mobile sportsbooks weren’t live until March 2023.
In Kentucky, it’s a matter of straightening out best practices and regulatory fences.
“From what I understand, there are a lot of quote-unquote back-of-the-house operations related to the app and geofencing….age verification and the odds setting,” Thayer told The Lines. “But from what Chairman Rabinowitz told me, they are working on best practices from a number of the other states.”
“…One of the benefits of Kentucky being one of the last states is we can learn from what all the others before us have done. And hopefully, learn from any mistakes that were made and follow some of the best practices that were out there.”
Which Sportsbooks Will Launch in Kentucky?
Among the sportsbooks most likely to get a stake in the Kentucky ground, we can expect some familiar faces, such as DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars, and BetRivers.
On May 16, Caesars Sportsbook announced a partnership with Keeneland Racetrack and Red Mile Gaming & Racing in a deal that includes plans to open a retail sportsbook in Lexington.
Also in May, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins commented on Kentucky’s sports betting timeline and said he expects a clear timeline from Kentucky regulators by DraftKings’ August earnings call.
