The Kentucky Senate continued meeting into the late afternoon on Wednesday without voting on a bill to legalize sports betting.
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The 2022 legislative session ends Thursday. If the Senate doesn’t vote on the bill by then or if a majority of the senators vote to kill it, Kentucky sports betting will not be legalized this year.
However, if the Senate approves the sports betting bill by the end of Thursday’s legislative business, it will go to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear for his consideration.
The governor has said he supports sports betting.
HB606 Would Legalize Mobile, On-Site Sports Betting
Early Wednesday, the Senate kept the sports betting bill alive, sending it to a committee for consideration.
During a morning Senate session, the sports betting bill, House Bill 606, was reassigned to the Economic Development, Tourism, and Labor Committee.
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The bill had been in the Senate Licensing and Occupations Committee.
“I think this is a good sign,” John Cox, the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce public relations director, said in a tweet.
The Kentucky Chamber supports sports betting in the state.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Adam Koenig, R-Erlanger, would legalize mobile sports betting and on-site sports wagering at horse tracks.
It also would permit online poker and fantasy sports game.
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House Earlier Approved Sports Betting
On March 18, the state House approved HB606 on a 58-30 vote, a margin of almost 2-to-1.
Senate leaders have expressed doubt that the sports betting bill will be approved in that chamber, but they agreed to consider it during the final two days of the session this week.
Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, told Gambling.com that sports betting legislation faces resistance in rural parts of the state with larger populations of conservative and religious residents.
Thayer supports sports betting, but with a 30-8 Republican majority in the Senate, the chance of passage was questionable going into the final two days of the session, lawmakers said.
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Chamber Of Commerce Urges Support
Legislators returned to the statehouse in Frankfort from recess on Wednesday for two days before going home at the end of the workday on Thursday.
With the clock ticking, the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce launched a last-second effort to convince state senators to approve sports betting.
The Kentucky Chamber has created an online form for Kentuckians to email to state senators, urging them to approve House Bill 606.
Sports betting is legal in most states that border Kentucky.
“Sports wagering presents Kentucky with a unique opportunity to grow jobs, stay competitive with surrounding states, and generate needed revenue for our pension systems,” the chamber email states.
