Sports Betting Bill Gets Last Chance in Kentucky

A bill to legalize Kentucky sportsbooks, thought to be doomed, is back in play at the statehouse in Frankfort.

Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, told reporters on Tuesday the sports betting measure would receive the required readings in the Senate over the next two days.

These two readings of the bill in the Senate will set the stage for a possible vote in the upper chamber when lawmakers return next month after a 10-day recess.

Bill Breezes Through House By Wide Margin

House Bill 606, sponsored by Rep. Adam Koenig, R-Erlanger, was approved in that chamber earlier this month on a 58-30 vote, with all Democrats and a slight majority of Republicans supporting the measure.

The bill would allow racetracks to partner with one interactive sports betting operator to provide on-site and mobile sports betting.

Under the bill’s most recent language, bettors age 18 and older could wager on collegiate and professional sports, including football, basketball and baseball, and on sanctioned events such as stock-car racing, table tennis and darts.

Supporters contend Kentucky is losing tax revenue when residents cross into bordering legal sports betting states.

However, Thayer told Gambling.com the bill faces opposition in areas with larger numbers of conservative and religious residents.

Opponents are concerned sports betting sites could be harmful to compulsive gamblers.

“There’s a lot of opposition in the rural parts of the state,” Thayer said.

Sports Betting To Be Decided Next Month

The bill’s supporters are hopeful they can marshal support during the upcoming recess.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Joe Sonka, a political reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal, said Thayer’s decision to bring the measure forward in the Senate is a “big step for the bill.”

Koenig has two weeks during the recess to build support for the bill in the Senate Republican caucus “so it can get a committee hearing when they return,” the reporter tweeted.

In a recent tweet to supporters, Koenig wrote, “We have until April 14 at 11:59 p.m. to get HB606 passed.”

He said the bill is “very much alive.”

“Not saying it is going to pass,” he tweeted, “but I’m having active conversations with senators and believe there is a path.”

Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, has said he doubts there is enough Senate support for sports betting to be approved in the upper chamber.

Republicans outnumber Democrats in the Senate, 30-8.