Kentucky in line to legalise sports betting

Kentucky, known among gamblers as the home of the Kentucky Derby horse race, is gearing up to legalise sports betting in 2019.

Republican Damon Thayer, a prominent member of Kentucky’s Senate has recently said that legislation regarding legalised sports betting is being prepared. The draft proposals are likely to be discussed in the 30-day legislative session that begins on 8 January 2019.

Thayer said that the revenue generated by sports betting will not match the revenue from slot-machine gaming, but he also believes that sports betting revenue will compete with revenue generated by casinos.

“I think we can put together a group of Democrats and Republicans to pass this bill,” Thayer said, according to Blood Horse. “I don’t want us to be one of the last states to pass sports wagering. I want us to be one of the first 10 states to pass sports wagering, and I want it to support the horse industry.”

The push for legalisation is a direct result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in May which struck down a two-decades-old law that prohibited states from legalising sports betting. The high court ruled 7-2 that the U.S. federal government cannot tell states that they could not legalise the practice.

So far, New Jersey, Delaware and Mississippi are the only states outside of Nevada to launch fully legal sports betting since the court’s ruling, and gaming companies with an eye towards the future already have begun their push into what could be a potential $500 billion market, according to the American Gaming Association.

Meanwhile, another four states – New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Rhode Island – have passed bills that have not been implemented, and another 14 states have introduced bills that have not yet passed, according to ESPN.

Source: thestreet.com