Sports betting, soon to arrive in Kentucky
A legislative committee endorsed a bill to legalise the segment and benefit from its revenue as early as next April.
US.- Sports betting may be soon legalised in Kentucky as a legislative committee endorsed a sports betting bill this week. Lawmakers want to get the segment up and running as soon as possible in order to benefit from its revenue.
Most neighbouring states have yet to approve their own bills, which is why the authorities estimate the segment may bring at least US$48 million a year should Kentucky get a head start. In case legislators can’t manage to regulate sports betting before Tennessee, Ohio and Illinois, the figure would go down to a yearly US$20 million.
Despite the bill receiving an overwhelming support in the Kentucky House Licensing, Occupations and Administrative Regulations Committee, it is still unclear what the House of Representatives will decide. It would require 60% of the votes at the 100 legislator chamber and, as many conservatives have their seats in it, there’s no way to assure it will ultimately be approved.
“I don’t know yet, to be honest,” state Rep. Adam Koenig said, while Rep. Chris Fugate, a pastor, asserted “I hope it fails.” Meanwhile, Democratic state Rep. Al Gentry assured: “My biggest issues are we’re not going far enough on expanded gaming.”
