A proposed legislation has reportedly been filed in Kentucky that could see the southern state introduce legalized sportsbetting at horse racing venues and off-track betting facilities as early as next summer.
According to reports from Casino.org and LegalSportsReport.com, the measure is known as BR29 and was introduced by Democratic Kentucky State Senator, Julian Carroll (pictured), on Monday in hopes that legislators in ‘The Bluegrass State’ will swiftly be able to take up the matter when they reconvene for their autumn session in September.
Carroll, who served as the Governor of Kentucky from 1974 to 1979, is reportedly a member of a special nine-member panel that was established last week and tasked with advancing sportsbetting legislation in the state. The need for this bi-partisan group became apparent after May saw the United States Supreme Court invalidate the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which had largely limited legitimate sports wagering to Nevada.
The intervening weeks have reportedly seen Delaware, New Jersey and Rhode Island pass legislation legalizing sportsbetting while measures that would do the same for Kentucky have continued to languish in the Kentucky State Senate and Kentucky House of Representatives.
Under Carroll’s legislation, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission would reportedly be responsible for regulating sportsbetting on a wide range of collegiate and professional events while charging operators an annual license fee of $250,000. Although the measure does not mention the payment of ‘integrity fees,’ which is a move favored by the governing bodies of numerous sports, it would allow executives from bodies such as Major League Baseball, the National Football League (NFL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) to serve on the 15-member regulatory body.
The proposed measure from Carroll would task the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission with ‘developing programs and procedures’ that would ‘aggressively fulfill its oversight and regulatory role’ in order to make sure that ‘undue influence is not brought to bear on the outcome of any athletic event due to wagers placed upon the event.’
However, perhaps the most controversial part of the proposed legislation would see Kentucky institute a 3% duty on handle rather than revenues, which LegalSportsReport.com estimated would equate to an effective tax rate of almost 60%.
NCAA coming to terms with legalized sportsbetting
