There will be no legal sports betting in Kentucky for another year and likely even longer.
The Kentucky General Assembly ended the 2022 session Thursday without passing a bill to legalize sports betting, despite support from Gov. Andy Beshear (D) and leadership in both chambers. It’s the fourth year in a row where legislation has fallen short, and passing a bill next year will be even harder.
Rep. Adam Koenig’s bill would have legalized retail and online sports betting through racetracks and casinos and generated an estimated $22.5 million in annual revenue for the state.
It passed the house in March but failed to get enough Republican support in the Senate.
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Widespread Political Support
With most Senate Democrats on board, there appeared to be enough Senate Republicans on board to meet a 20-vote threshold for passage.
“I’m for sports betting,” Sen. Majority Leader Damon Thayer (R) told reporters outside of Senate chambers. “I think its a natural extension of our history and tradition of betting on horses in Kentucky, but I’m no longer going to give the reason. Find some of the people who are against sports betting and ask them.”
The Kentucky GOP typically doesn’t vote unless there’s consensus among themselves, and sources close to the legislature said they came up just four votes shy of meeting that majority.
“If Damon Thayer wanted sports betting to pass he’d get it passed,” said Gov. Beshear (D). “It’s time. The people of Kentucky absolutely want this.”
Lawmakers will likely drum up another bill next year, but odd-numbered sessions in Kentucky are limited to just 30 days and require a three-fifths majority to pass bills.
That means there will be no sports betting law in Kentucky likely until 2024, and even then it’d probably take a year to get things up and running.
Widespread Public Support
Most of Kentucky’s neighbor states have already legalized sports betting, and with Missouri expected to join them in May, the Bluegrass State will soon be completely surrounded.
Several lawmakers during the House vote called it the “single-most important bipartisan issue” that they’ve received emails and phone calls on. 65% of Kentuckians answered yes to legalizing in polls from the state Chamber of Commerce.
Kentucky addresses are tied to over 41,000 legal player accounts in other states, which saw over half a million login attempts in March, according to GeoComply, which tracks location data.
More than a third of Kentucky counties border its legal neighbor states, which is about 2.4 million people. Last year those states made a combined $173.1 million off sports betting taxes—about $34 million a state.
