Kentucky sports betting bill heads to Senate after passing House
Legislation that would legalize online and retail wagering requires three-fifths majority to pass
Kentucky has officially moved one step closer to regulated sports betting, with the state’s House of Representatives on March 13 voting in favor of a bill that would legalize online and retail wagering.
HB 551, which passed through the House by a vote of 63-34, now heads to the Senate, where it will likely face a significantly stiffer test after a previous sports betting bill, HB 606, ultimately failed at the same stage last year.
Kentucky’s current legislative session is slated to end on March 30, as odd-year sessions last only 30 days and require a three-fifths majority vote in each chamber for bills to be passed.
Representative Michael Meredith, sponsor of HB 551, is hopeful his legislation won’t suffer a similar fate to HB 606 – which advanced to the Senate in 2022 before stalling – citing unrealized tax revenue for the Bluegrass State.
“Not only have six of our seven border states [legalized sports betting], but 46 counties of the 120 counties in Kentucky border a state that has legalized sports betting within their borders,” Meredith said.
“You literally just have to drive across the county line or across the river to take part in their programs.”
According to some estimates, online sports betting in Kentucky could generate north of $20m in annual tax revenue.
If passed, HB 551 would allow Kentucky’s nine licensed horse tracks to offer online and retail wagering. Each track could engage up to three online partners, resulting in as many as 27 operators.
Horseracing track operators would be required to pay an up-front 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.
An approved amendment to HB 551 would establish a problem gaming fund in Kentucky and allocate 2.5% of sports betting revenue to the program. A second approved amendment lifted the previous requirement of in-person registration for mobile betting accounts.
Two additional amendments – one that would’ve banned credit card deposits for online accounts and another that proposed raising the minimum betting age from 18 to 21 – failed to garner sufficient support.