Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear rode into office in December, 2019 on a platform of expanded gambling as a way to boost the Bluegrass State’s internal revenue. He has pushed for legalization of sports gambling and casinos since taking control and continues to work to see his plans come to fruition. How effective his monologues and negotiating skills are will start to be seen today as lawmakers in the General Assembly meet for the first time to discuss a sports gambling bill.
Representative Adam Koenig had prefiled a sports gambling bill before legislators returned to their respective chambers on January 7, hoping to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. Governor Beshear has put his weight behind the bill, even if he would have liked to have seen a wider-reaching piece of legislation that included casinos. However, he’s willing to take what he can get and emphasized in public statements yesterday what sports gambling means to the local economy.
As is often seen across the U.S., lawmakers want to be able to put more money into education, but you can’t get blood from a turnip. Sports gambling, asserts the governor, will improve the state’s budget and possibly give it the ability to increase public school teacher salaries by $2,000 a year. He states that, if sports gambling generates $20 million a year, it would cover about one-fourth of the pay raise for the Kentucky’s 42,000 teachers.
From there, the state’s higher education system can be improved, as well. Governor Beshear explained, “A commitment to the future also requires that we create the new revenue to meet the growing needs of our state, and right now, we are watching more than $500 million in gaming revenue go across the border to states like Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois. It is time to stop that flow.”
The idea of sports gambling in Kentucky has been thrown around for a couple of years. House Bill 175 (HB 175), the bill introduced by Koenig, saw approval by a House committee last February, but wasn’t able to progress before the legislative session ended. Part of the reason for the delay was concern that any effort would have to face a constitutional amendment, which is always an expensive and challenging undertaking. However, it would appear that, per the language of Kentucky’s Constitution, authorization for legal sports gambling is already in place.
Both legislative chambers are primarily controlled by Republicans, who have already asserted that, for the most part, they support sports gambling and gaming expansion. This is good news as HB 175 heads to the House Licensing, Occupation, and Administrative Regulations Committee today, where it will be the only topic of discussion.
