House committee advances four gambling-related bills

Provide tax revenue to the state, instead of an outright ban

FRANKFORT, Ky. (KT) – Four gambling-related bills were approved by a House committee on Wednesday, dealing with sports wagering, parimutuel wagering taxes, gaming machines, and appropriating money to the Kentucky Problem Gambling Assistance Fund.

Three of the bills were sponsored by Rep. Adam Koenig, R-Erlanger, chairman of the House Licensing, Occupations and Administrative Regulations Committee, which presented them to that panel.

House Bill 606 would legalize sports wagering in Kentucky. “This has passed the committee a few times in the past, and I think we’re in a position, hopefully, to have better luck going forward out of this committee,” Koenig testified. “It allows for wagering on sports, as has happened in 33 other states and the District of Columbia.”

He said there are billions of dollars already being wagered illegally in the state each year. “I think it’s important to bring those people out of the shadows, to dry up the black market, and make sure the people of the state have the benefits of their government protecting them.”

Koenig pointed out, if a bookie doesn’t pay you off for a win, you have no recourse. If it’s legalized, that won’t happen, he said. 

David Wells of the Family Foundation spoke in opposition to the measure.  “Predatory gambling, especially in the expansive form that is being considered,” he said, “is not a victimless form of entertainment or competition.  It is designed to prey on human weakness with the government colluding with the gambling industry to exploit our fellow Kentuckians.”

Wells added, “It is an industry designed not to create wealth, but to simply transfer wealth, primarily from the poor to the wealthy. Government promoted and privileged gambling, including sports wagering, will only further impoverish Kentucky’s poor, by taking money from families and shifting it to the gambling industry.”  

House Bill 607 would increase state revenue from online wagering apps from a 0.5% tax to 1.5%. Betting on live and historical horse racing machines would also be 1.5%, while betting at a race track, either on live or simulcasted races, would drop from 3% to 1.5%.  

Some of the additional revenue would go to the University of Kentucky and Bluegrass Community and Technical College equine industry programs, like the University of Louisville program that already receives funding from the taxes.

House Bill 609 would appropriate $225 million to the Kentucky Problem Gambling Assistance Fund to provide treatment for gambling addiction.

The fourth measure, House Bill 608, sponsored by Rep. Killian Timoney, R-Lexington, would ban gambling machines, sometimes called “Gray Machines,” which have cropped up at convenience stores across the state.

Supporters said the machines cut into revenues from the Kentucky Lottery and charitable bingo operations, while opponents, including the machine providers, said the machines provide additional funds to the businesses that host them, and they are games of skill.

A proposed committee substitute, which would regulate the machines and provide tax revenue to the state, instead of an outright ban, was defeated on a voice vote.

All four bills now go to the House floor.