House Bill 551 was passed by the Kentucky legislature which would see in-person and online sportsbetting become legal state wide.

Governor Andy Beshear stated his belief that the new law would allow the commonwealth to become more competitive with states that have already succeeded in legalising sportsbetting. Kentucky will be the 38th state to pass such a legislation.

Our dollars were supporting Indiana, West Virginia, Ohio and other states. But now, after years of urging action, sportsbetting is finally going to be legal in Kentucky. We made it happen

Prior to the enactment of this bill, betting on horse-racing was the only legal form of sportsbetting. The bill will see Kentucky’s horse racing tracks licence themselves as sportsbetting facilities for a $500,000 upfront fee and an annual renewal of $50,000.

This would be achieved in collaboration with out-of-state, ready established gambling operators, such as DraftKing and FanDuel. Race-tracks can partner themselves with up to 3 service providers for in-person wagering, or through online and mobile applications. These service providers will be charged $50,000 for an initial licence, with a $10,000 annual renewal.

This new activity will be monitored and regulated by the Kentucky Horse Racing commission.

The government revenue generated through taxation of sportsbetting, projected to be close to $23 million, will then be utilised in a tripartite model. The first part would be to cover the regulatory costs. The next would see 2.5% set aside for gambling addiction resources, with the rest to contribute to the state pension fund.

The bill’s sponsor, State Rep. Michael Meredith, described how the systems in other states feature a tethering of sportsbetting operators to casinos or some other entity of the like. Which poses the problem that the legislature had to overcome. With Kentucky not being a casino state it wouldn’t make sense to pass a bill including casinos in this manner. The alternative was to grant the right to licence to the race tracks which are already a proven structure in Kentucky both financially and in market terms.

This bill does in many ways seem more like an extension of horse-race sportsbetting as opposed to a true game changer. As instances of online gambling such as online poker and fantasy sports were omitted from the legislature. Being referred to as iGaming by Rep. Meredith who had this comment on the situation.

The national model has been to move towards sports wagering. iGaming has not been that popular across the country as of yet, and so it made sense to pull that out

This of course does not take away from the significance of this policy making action, a landmark event to be certain, but perhaps it is a great leap in a direction that has not as of yet been achieved. With many experts claiming that iGaming will be the real day to day revenue generator. Removing all barriers to the operation of iGaming, which dominates every other state that offers both in-person and online gambling could be the key to unlocking a truly powerful and definitive industry in Kentucky.

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