The sports betting regulation structure is changing in the Bluegrass State.
House Bill 281 passed through the Kentucky General Assembly this month and was signed into law by Gov. Andy Beshear last week, allowing a reorganization of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s duties.
The new Division of Sports Wagering will be managed outside of the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, which has been the regulator for sports betting since it was legalized last March.
The law also created the Division of Compliance, which will take on the duties of auditing revenue received by the commission instead of the pari-mutuel division handling it.
“The Racing Commission, which is already at the top of its game in regulating the live portion of our industry, needs to be well versed in and be able to adequately, efficiently, regulate the other forms of gaming that the General Assembly has legalized, like sports wagering,” Kentucky Thoroughbred Association director Chauncy Morris told WEKU last month.
Easy passing
HB 281 was a bipartisan bill that was introduced on Jan. 17 by Republican Rep. Michael Meredith and Democratic Reps. Al Gentry and Cherlynn Stevenson.
The bill was passed by the House vote of 84-2 on its third reading on Feb. 12 and then made it through the Senate by a vote of 37-1 a month later. HB 281 was delivered to the governor’s desk on March 13 and signed into law on Thursday.
Above projections
The breakoff within the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission is another sign of a maturing and more complex Kentucky sports betting market that is bringing in the kind of tax revenue that needs added attention.
Kentucky announced last month that it brought in $55 million in sports betting revenue on a handle of $546.6 million. The Bluegrass State cleared $15 million in tax revenue in the first three full months of wagering, which began in late September 2023.
That put Kentucky ahead of its projections of $23 million in the first year.
