On the final morning of the legislative session, Somerset Mayor and Kentucky Republican gubernatorial candidate Alan Keck is calling for the Kentucky Senate to take action on one more bill: sports gaming.
Sen. Damon Thayer told members of the media on Wednesday evening that House Bill 551, which would legalize sports betting and impose a tax that could bring in more than $20 million in annual revenue to Kentucky, does not have the votes to pass and will not get a vote on the Senate floor.
“This is not the time to back away from a measure that could quite literally be a game changer for Kentucky,” Keck said. “Whether it’s one vote or five, the right thing to do is to put House Bill 551 to a vote so that Kentuckians know for certain where our legislators stand on this issue. I’ve said it many times and I will say it again: It is hypocritical at best and egregious at worst that you can place a wager on a horse and buy a lottery ticket in our state but you can’t put $5 on the UK-Louisville game. We are turning our heads as this money rushes out of our borders and into other states and it’s a shame. Let’s be bold and capture this revenue while regulating sports gaming appropriately. It’s time to get this done.”
Keck, one of 12 Republicans vying for the GOP nomination for governor, has advocated for sports betting.
