A bill that would legalize online poker and sports wagering in Kentucky has been submitted. Again. Kentucky lawmakers will again weigh the fate of online poker. (Image: kentucky.gov) Authored by Democrats Cherlynn Stevenson, Rachel Roberts, and Derrick Graham, it’s the fifth year in a row that lawmakers in the Blue Grass State will consider legalizing online poker, fantasy games, and sports betting.
If passed, HB 106 will give Kentucky’s five horse tracks the opportunity to buy licenses to run the games. The online poker license will cost an initial $250K, with annual fees of $10K and 6.75% of their net poker revenue.
A sportsbook licensing fee would cost $500K, with an annual fee of $50K and 9.75% of net revenue.
The bill’s authors will have to perform a sort of legislative speed-run if they hope to get the bill passed. Because it’s a year ending in an odd number, Kentucky only has 30 legislative days in 2023 (in even-numbered years, they go for 60 days), so poker fans in Kentucky should know by the end of February if the bill passed. Any chance?
While Kentucky has a distinct and deep wagering tradition through its long history of thoroughbred horse racing, it’s also a conservative state with lawmakers who have resisted expanding gambling, no matter how badly companies like Churchill Downs pine for it.
Louisville, Kentucky’s Churchill Downs racetrack – home to the Kentucky Derby – remains adamant in its support of legal US online gaming. (Image: Jeff Gentner/Getty)
Last year, a nearly-identical bill passed the 100-member House 58-30, but never made it out of a Senate committee because it would most likely have come up four votes short in the upper chamber. It was the furthest a bill with online poker in it made it.
All 21 Democrats voted for last year’s bill, and were joined by 37 Republicans to advance it to the Senate committee, where it stalled.
Kentucky’s Senate is made up of 31 Republicans and seven Democrats, so at least 13 Republicans will have to say yes or online poker will fail to pass for a fifth time. If they don’t pass […]
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