{"id":124764,"date":"2020-01-19T23:59:14","date_gmt":"2020-01-20T07:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=124764"},"modified":"2020-01-20T10:36:55","modified_gmt":"2020-01-20T18:36:55","slug":"ky-sports-betting-bill-gets-boost-from-ex-nascar-star-michael-waltrip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ky-sports-betting-bill-gets-boost-from-ex-nascar-star-michael-waltrip\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky Sports Betting: Ex-NASCAR Star Michael Waltrip Lends Support, Keeneland and Red Mile Likely to Partner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Kentucky native and former professional athlete has lent his voice to the cause of legalizing sports betting in The Bluegrass State.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_124767\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-124767\" data-style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-124767\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Waltrip-1024x690.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"809\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Waltrip-1024x690.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Waltrip-142x96.jpg 142w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Waltrip-768x517.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Waltrip-163x110.jpg 163w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Waltrip-445x300.jpg 445w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Waltrip.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-124767\"class=\"text-description\">Kentucky native and former NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip, a two-time Daytona 500 winner, announced his support for legalizing sports betting in his home state. He voiced a radio ad produced by a group supporting legislation to allow sports betting at the state&#8217;s horse tracks and at Kentucky Speedway. (Image; NASCAR.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Former NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip recorded a radio commercial that began playing statewide last week. The 60-second spot was paid for by Kentucky Sport Betting Now, a political group that was launched on the same day <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kentucky-sports-betting-bill-passes-first-hurdle-with-unanimous-vote\/\">House Bill 137<\/a> passed the House Licensing, Occupations, and Administrative Regulations Committee unanimously.<\/p>\n<p>The bill\u2019s sponsor, state Rep. Adam Koenig (R-Erlanger), chairs that committee.<\/p>\n<p>In the commercial, Waltrip, an Owensboro native and two-time Daytona 500 winner, said that Kentucky is falling behind several of its neighboring states when it comes to making sports betting legal in the state.<\/p>\n<p>Indiana and West Virginia already offer both online sports betting and retail sportsbooks. Illinois and Tennessee have passed laws and are working on regulations before accepting license applications.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ve acted, we haven\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cThat means millions of dollars in revenue that could be going to state pensions, well, it\u2019s going across state lines.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ad includes a toll-free number for people to call their House and Senate representative and voice their support for the legislation.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Kentucky native and two-time Daytona 500 champion MICHAEL WALTRIP endorses sports betting and House Bill 137!<\/p>\n<p>LISTEN to the new radio that will run statewide starting today &gt;&gt;&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FqQpz4wVDV\">pic.twitter.com\/FqQpz4wVDV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; KY Sports Betting Now (@SportsBettingKY) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SportsBettingKY\/status\/1218185679169036288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 17, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Proponents claim the state could raise about $22.5 million in revenue under sports betting, funding that could go toward state pensions or increasing salaries for public school teachers.<\/p>\n<p>The next step for the bill is a vote on the House floor, and that could come as early as Tuesday afternoon, when lawmakers reconvene in Frankfort. Per the Kentucky General Assembly web site, the bill has had two readings on the House floor. It can be called up for a vote after the third.<\/p>\n<p>Besides Koenig, a bipartisan group of 35 lawmakers sponsor the bill. It needs just a simple majority in the 100-member House and then the 38-member Senate to go to Gov. Andy Beshear, a vocal proponent for the bill.<\/p>\n<h2>Keeneland-Red Mile Joint Sportsbook Likely<\/h2>\n<p>Kentucky\u2019s sports betting bill would allow the state\u2019s horse tracks and the Kentucky Speedway to apply for licenses to house sportsbooks. Those sportsbooks also could offer online sports wagering, but through Jan. 1, 2022, interested bettors would first need to register at the track in order to access the application.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, the state has five thoroughbred racetracks and two harness racing tracks. However, it\u2019s likely the two tracks in Lexington, Keeneland and Red Mile, would apply for a single license.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\"><p>We would anticipate a similar deal with sports wagering, if it passes, as we have at Red Mile with\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kentucky-tracks-see-big-jump-in-wagering-on-historical-racing-machines\/\">Historical Horse Racing<\/a>, Keeneland vice president and COO Vince Gabbert told <i>Casino.org<\/i>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Keeneland, the thoroughbred track, jointly operates a 938-seat HHR parlor with the Red Mile at its harness racing venue.<\/p>\n<p>Gabbert said preliminary talks have started with a number of operators, but they haven\u2019t narrowed down the field of prospects just yet. However, if the bill passes, he does not anticipate the tracks would apply for the second license that could offer Kentucky bettors an additional online sports wagering option.<\/p>\n<p>The bill allows one skin, or mobile app, per license.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would most likely operate everything under a single license in order to maximize marketing efforts and customer outreach,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h2>Senate President Voices Concerns<\/h2>\n<p>Besides sports betting, HB 137 also provides the framework for Kentucky to regulate online poker and paid fantasy sports. Like horse racing in Kentucky, sports wagering would be open to adults 18 and older.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>While its chances for passage in the state House seem quite high, there are some questions emerging about its prospects in the Senate. While state Sen. Damon Thayer (R-Georgetown), the Senate\u2019s majority leader, spoke out in support of the bill at a committee hearing in December, another Senate leader was less committal on Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Senate President Robert Stivers (R-Manchester) said Friday he was concerned about the scope of the bill, according to Jack Brammer of the <i>Lexington Herald-Leader<\/i>. To him, the provisions for fantasy sports and online poker make it seem like the bill is for online casino gaming.<\/p>\n<p>Koenig has refuted notions that his bill could be used to allow casino gaming in the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Kentucky native and former professional athlete has lent his voice to the cause of legalizing sports betting in The Bluegrass State. Former NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip recorded a radio commercial that began playing statewide last week. The 60-second spot was paid for by Kentucky Sport Betting Now, a political group that was launched on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":124767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ky Sports Betting Bill Gets Boost from Ex-NASCAR Star Michael Waltrip<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The radio ad was paid for by Kentucky Sport Betting Now, a group launched on the same day a bill that would make wagering legal passed a House committee.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ky Sports Betting Bill Gets Boost from Ex-NASCAR Star Michael Waltrip\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The radio ad was paid for by Kentucky Sport Betting Now, a group launched on the same day a bill that would make wagering legal passed a House committee.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ky-sports-betting-bill-gets-boost-from-ex-nascar-star-michael-waltrip\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-20T07:59:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-20T18:36:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Waltrip.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1078\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ky-sports-betting-bill-gets-boost-from-ex-nascar-star-michael-waltrip\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ky-sports-betting-bill-gets-boost-from-ex-nascar-star-michael-waltrip\/\",\"name\":\"Ky Sports Betting Bill Gets Boost from Ex-NASCAR Star Michael Waltrip\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ky-sports-betting-bill-gets-boost-from-ex-nascar-star-michael-waltrip\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ky-sports-betting-bill-gets-boost-from-ex-nascar-star-michael-waltrip\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Waltrip.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-20T07:59:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-20T18:36:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"The radio ad was paid for by Kentucky Sport Betting Now, a group launched on the same day a bill that would make wagering legal passed a House committee.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ky-sports-betting-bill-gets-boost-from-ex-nascar-star-michael-waltrip\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ky-sports-betting-bill-gets-boost-from-ex-nascar-star-michael-waltrip\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ky-sports-betting-bill-gets-boost-from-ex-nascar-star-michael-waltrip\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Waltrip.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Waltrip.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":1078,\"caption\":\"(Image; NASCAR.com)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ky-sports-betting-bill-gets-boost-from-ex-nascar-star-michael-waltrip\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sports Betting\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Kentucky Sports Betting: Ex-NASCAR Star Michael Waltrip Lends Support, Keeneland and Red Mile Likely to Partner\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\",\"name\":\"Steve Bittenbender\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Steve Bittenbender\"},\"description\":\"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. 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