{"id":125824,"date":"2020-02-02T11:29:57","date_gmt":"2020-02-02T19:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=125824"},"modified":"2020-02-02T12:28:06","modified_gmt":"2020-02-02T20:28:06","slug":"rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Rumors’ of Kentucky Sports Betting Bill Demise are Exaggerated, Rep. Koenig Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been more than two weeks since a bill to legalize sports betting in Kentucky unanimously cleared a state House committee. However, the bill has yet to make it on the House floor for its next vote.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Are chances for Kentucky passing a sports betting bill this session a slam dunk or a jump ball? The answer depends on who you ask. (Image: Eddie Justice\/UK Athletics)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While that has led to some rumors and speculation of whether House Bill 137<\/a> has enough support to become law, the bill\u2019s primary sponsor sought to quell such talk.<\/p>\n

The rumors of the death of HB 137 are greatly exaggerated,\u201d state Rep. Adam Koenig (R-Erlanger) told Casino.org on Friday. \u201cToday is day 18 of a 60-day session. There is plenty of time. This is a controversial issue, and it\u2019s not unusual for such bills to move slowly as legislators consult their constituents.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Koenig sponsored a similar bill last year that also passed out of committee, but did not get a floor vote. However, since last year’s session did not include passing a state budget, state law required a 60-vote majority for passage. In this session, which is a budget year, it just needs a simple majority.<\/p>\n

Including Koenig, the bill has 38 sponsors in the House. Assuming the members of the House Licensing, Occupations, and Administrative Regulations Committee who aren\u2019t co-sponsors maintain their yes vote on the floor, that gives the bill 40 yes votes. With the House currently at 98 members because of two vacancies, that means it would only need nine more yes votes to move on to the state Senate.<\/p>\n

It remains unknown how broad support is for the bill in the 38-member state Senate. It does have the support of state Sen. Damon Thayer (R-Georgetown), the majority floor leader. However, Senate President Robert Stivers (R-Manchester) has been more skeptical, raising concerns that the bill is like legalizing \u201cinternet casinos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koenig\u2019s bill allows the state\u2019s racetracks, such as Churchill Downs<\/a>, along with the Kentucky Speedway, to offer both brick-and-mortar sportsbooks as well as online sports betting. For the first 18 months of the law, participation in online sports betting would first require registering in-person at the affiliated track\u2019s sportsbook.<\/p>\n

It also legalizes and regulates online poker and daily fantasy sports.<\/p>\n

Family Foundation Questions GOP Leadership<\/h2>\n

Those who oppose the bill say that House majority leadership is not paying attention to the rank-and-file GOP members. Republicans hold a 61-37 majority. Of HB 137\u2019s sponsors, 28 of them are Democrats.<\/p>\n

Republicans hold a similar advantage in the Senate, where 29 of the 38 members are Republican.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is ironic that Kentuckians gave Republicans a majority in the KY House of Representatives, only to see them trying (to push) Democratic legislation like #SportsWagering,\u201d said Martin Cothran, a spokesman for the Family Foundation of Kentucky, in a tweet on Thursday. \u201cThat won’t play well in the fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Expanded gaming, though, is not necessarily a Democratic issue. Last year, Republican-majority legislatures in Indiana and Tennessee, two of Kentucky\u2019s neighbors, passed sports betting legislation.<\/p>\n

Is A New Law Necessary?<\/h2>\n

On Saturday, another Kentucky lawmaker supporting sports betting made an argument online that the General Assembly may not even need to pass a law in order to make it legal.<\/p>\n

\n

State Rep. Jason Nemes (R-Louisville) said he wants to see lawmakers pass the bill, and he is a co-sponsor of Koenig\u2019s bill. However, should the measure stall, he thinks businesses could be allowed to set up a \u201csports betting business\u201d and be taxed at the 6 percent sales tax rate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThis is because Kentucky has no law prohibiting sports betting,\u201d Nemer said on Twitter. \u201cThe Kentucky Constitution clearly doesn\u2019t. And I haven\u2019t found a statute that does either. Under our system, conduct isn\u2019t presumptively illegal. It is legal until a law is passed criminalizing it. There is no such law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some chapters of Kentucky state law do deal with unlawful betting. However, he said he thinks an argument could be made before the courts where judges rule that sports betting and fantasy sports are considered games of skill and not games of chance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been more than two weeks since a bill to legalize sports betting in Kentucky unanimously cleared a state House committee. However, the bill has yet to make it on the House floor for its next vote. While that has led to some rumors and speculation of whether House Bill 137 has enough support to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":125827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n'Rumors' of Ky. Sports Betting Bill Demise are Exaggerated, Koenig Says<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"More than 40 days remain in Kentucky's General Assembly session, but the sports betting bill has yet to get a House vote. It passed in committee on Jan. 15.\" \/>\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=\"'Rumors' of Ky. Sports Betting Bill Demise are Exaggerated, Koenig Says\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More than 40 days remain in Kentucky's General Assembly session, but the sports betting bill has yet to get a House vote. It passed in committee on Jan. 15.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/\" \/>\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=\"2020-02-02T19:29:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-02T20:28:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/UK-UofL-tip.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1109\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"887\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/\",\"name\":\"'Rumors' of Ky. Sports Betting Bill Demise are Exaggerated, Koenig Says\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/UK-UofL-tip.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-02T19:29:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-02T20:28:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"More than 40 days remain in Kentucky's General Assembly session, but the sports betting bill has yet to get a House vote. It passed in committee on Jan. 15.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/UK-UofL-tip.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/UK-UofL-tip.png\",\"width\":1109,\"height\":887,\"caption\":\"(Image: Eddie Justice\/UK Athletics)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/#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\":\"‘Rumors’ of Kentucky Sports Betting Bill Demise are Exaggerated, Rep. Koenig Says\"}]},{\"@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. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"'Rumors' of Ky. Sports Betting Bill Demise are Exaggerated, Koenig Says","description":"More than 40 days remain in Kentucky's General Assembly session, but the sports betting bill has yet to get a House vote. It passed in committee on Jan. 15.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"'Rumors' of Ky. Sports Betting Bill Demise are Exaggerated, Koenig Says","og_description":"More than 40 days remain in Kentucky's General Assembly session, but the sports betting bill has yet to get a House vote. It passed in committee on Jan. 15.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2020-02-02T19:29:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-02-02T20:28:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1109,"height":887,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/UK-UofL-tip.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Steve Bittenbender","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Bittenbender","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/","name":"'Rumors' of Ky. Sports Betting Bill Demise are Exaggerated, Koenig Says","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/UK-UofL-tip.png","datePublished":"2020-02-02T19:29:57+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-02T20:28:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2"},"description":"More than 40 days remain in Kentucky's General Assembly session, but the sports betting bill has yet to get a House vote. It passed in committee on Jan. 15.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/UK-UofL-tip.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/UK-UofL-tip.png","width":1109,"height":887,"caption":"(Image: Eddie Justice\/UK Athletics)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rumors-of-ky-sports-betting-bill-demise-are-exaggerated-koenig-says\/#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":"‘Rumors’ of Kentucky Sports Betting Bill Demise are Exaggerated, Rep. Koenig Says"}]},{"@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. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125824"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}