Is sports betting legal in Kentucky?
Yes, both online and at retail sportsbooks. HB 551 legalized sports wagering in 2023, retail betting opened on September 7, 2023, and mobile apps followed on September 28. The minimum age has been 21 since July 15, 2026, when HB 904 took effect; before that it was 18. Paid daily fantasy contests stay open at 18 until January 1, 2027, when a 2026 revenue law raises that age to 21.
Where you can bet
Only Kentucky's licensed horse racing associations can hold a sports wagering license, and HB 551 lets each track contract with up to three service providers to run its retail and mobile books. The Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation (KHRGC) licensee search lists nine mobile brands and their partner tracks: bet365 and BetMGM (Sandy's Racing & Gaming in Ashland), Caesars Sportsbook (The Red Mile), Circa Sports and DraftKings (Cumberland Run and The Mint Gaming Hall Cumberland), FanDuel (Turfway Park and Newport Racing & Gaming), Fanatics Sportsbook (Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel), Prime Sportsbook (Churchill Downs) and theScore Bet (Ellis Park). Prime was the most recent to launch, on July 28, 2025.
The same registry lists 13 retail sportsbook locations. They include Derby City Gaming's two Louisville sites, The Red Mile in Lexington, Turfway Park in Florence, Ellis Park in Henderson, Sandy's in Ashland and The Mint Gaming Hall Cumberland Run in Corbin. Kambi runs the retail books for the Churchill Downs, Ellis Park, Turfway and Oak Grove groups.
The state taxes adjusted gross revenue at 9.75% for bets placed at a track and 14.25% for online bets. Since July 15, 2026, books can't offer player props on athletes at Kentucky colleges when the bet wins only if the player falls short of a stat line or has a negative outcome.
How Kentucky legalized sports betting
Gambling law before 2018
Section 226 of the Kentucky Constitution, ratified in 1891, forbids "lotteries and gift enterprises" except as the section allows. Voters amended it on November 8, 1988 to allow a state lottery and on November 3, 1992 to allow charitable gaming. Horse racing rests on statute instead, and the Attorney General's office says the KHRGC and its predecessors have regulated wagering in Kentucky since 1906. In 2014 and again in 2020 the Kentucky Supreme Court defined pari-mutuel wagering by reference to Commonwealth v. Kentucky Jockey Club, a 1931 decision.
That definition decided the fight over historical horse racing machines, which the Racing Commission authorized by regulation and asked a court to approve in 2010. The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled against the machines' leading system on September 24, 2020 (details in the court cases section). The General Assembly answered with SB 120, which rewrote the statutory definition of pari-mutuel wagering to cover historical racing. It passed the Senate 22-15 and the House 55-38 and was signed on February 22, 2021 with an emergency clause.
Four failed bills, 2019 to 2022
After Murphy v. NCAA (May 14, 2018), Rep. Adam Koenig carried a sports wagering bill in four straight sessions. HB 175 cleared the House licensing committee on February 20, 2019 and never got a floor vote. HB 137 cleared the same committee on January 15, 2020 and was recommitted on March 17, 2020. HB 241 never left the House Committee on Committees in 2021. HB 606 went furthest. The House passed it 58-30 on March 18, 2022, and it died in the Senate after being reassigned to a new committee on April 13, 2022.
HB 551 (2023)
Rep. Michael Meredith sponsored HB 551 in 2023. It passed the House 63-34 on March 13 and the Senate 25-12 on March 30, and Gov. Andy Beshear signed it on March 31 (2023 Ky. Acts Ch. 147). The law set a $500,000 initial license fee for each track and a $50,000 annual renewal, a $50,000 fee for service providers, and the 9.75% and 14.25% tax rates, which the Department of Revenue applies from June 29, 2023. Beshear signed emergency regulations on July 10, 2023 and placed the state's first legal sports bet at Churchill Downs on September 7. Ordinary regulations took effect on April 2, 2024.
Changes since launch
SB 299 of 2024 replaced the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission with the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation and gave the new body jurisdiction over sports wagering, pari-mutuel wagering and charitable gaming. Beshear vetoed it on April 9, 2024; the Senate (26-12) and House (57-38) overrode him on April 12, and the old commission was abolished on July 1, 2024.
HB 904 of 2026, titled the Wagering Consumer Protection Act, passed the House 79-15 and the Senate 24-13, and the House concurred 64-19. Beshear vetoed it on April 13, 2026 and lawmakers overrode the veto the next day, 67-7 and 26-5 (2026 Ky. Acts Ch. 184). The law took effect July 15, 2026. It raised the betting age to 21, added the college prop limit, licensed fixed-odds betting on horse racing at the same 9.75% and 14.25% rates, gave the Attorney General concurrent power to enforce the gaming chapters, and put fantasy contests under KHRGC licensing. It also bars tracks, sportsbooks and fantasy licensees, and their affiliates, from offering or contracting with prediction markets in Kentucky. Earlier drafts reached further and could have forced out FanDuel, DraftKings and Fanatics, which also run prediction market products.
HB 757, the 2026 revenue bill (Acts Ch. 161, vetoed in part and overridden on April 14, 2026), adds two taxes from January 1, 2027: 14.25% of a prediction market operator's transaction fees and 12% of a fantasy operator's adjusted gross receipts. The act says neither tax is meant to legalize the activity it taxes.
Sports betting court cases in Kentucky
Commonwealth v. 141 internet domain names (2008 to 2010)
In 2008 J. Michael Brown, then Justice and Public Safety Cabinet secretary, won a Franklin Circuit Court order seizing 141 gambling domain names, sportsbook.com and playersonly.com among them. The Court of Appeals blocked the seizure with a writ of prohibition. On March 18, 2010 the Kentucky Supreme Court reversed because the groups seeking the writ, domain names and anonymous trade associations, had no standing. It didn't rule on whether the seizure was lawful.
Commonwealth v. Stars Interactive (PokerStars)
Kentucky sued PokerStars in 2011 under its loss-recovery law, which lets the state collect three times what residents lost to illegal gambling. Franklin Circuit Court entered judgment in December 2015 on $290,230,077.94 in losses, trebled, and the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld it in 2020. Flutter Entertainment, PokerStars' parent, settled for $300 million, announced on September 22, 2021.
Family Trust Foundation v. Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (2010 to 2020)
The Racing Commission, the Department of Revenue and eight tracks asked Franklin Circuit Court (No. 10-CI-1154) to approve historical horse racing, and The Family Foundation opposed. In Appalachian Racing v. Family Trust Foundation (2014), the Supreme Court upheld the regulations and sent back the factual question of whether the machines were pari-mutuel. The trial court said they were. On September 24, 2020 (No. 2018-SC-0630-TG) the Supreme Court reversed, holding that the Encore (Exacta) system creates no pool among players. SB 120 followed five months later.
Kentucky Gambling Recovery LLC v. Kalshi (2025 to 2026)
A Delaware company with no tie to any Kentucky bettor sued Kalshi, Susquehanna, Robinhood and Webull in Franklin Circuit Court on June 11, 2025 under the loss-recovery statute, KRS 372.040, seeking to recover Kentuckians' losses on event contracts. The defendants removed the case to the Eastern District of Kentucky on October 20, 2025 (Nos. 3:25-cv-00053 and 3:25-cv-00054, consolidated). On March 3, 2026 the court found no federal jurisdiction and sent the case back to Franklin Circuit Court without reaching the merits. We haven't found a later ruling.
Coalition for Fair Markets v. Coleman (June 2026)
The Coalition for Fair Markets, whose members are Kalshi, Crypto.com's North American Derivatives Exchange and Polymarket US, sued on June 12, 2026 in Franklin Circuit Court (No. 26-CI-00667, Judge Phillip J. Shepherd) to block the HB 757 tax. It argues the tax is unconstitutional special legislation, denies equal protection and is preempted. The coalition later joined the federal case below.
Commonwealth ex rel. Coleman v. KalshiEX and v. QCX (June 2026)
On June 17, 2026 Attorney General Russell Coleman filed two suits in Franklin Circuit Court claiming unlicensed sports wagering, consumer protection violations and loss-recovery liability. No. 26-CI-00689 names five Kalshi entities with Robinhood, Webull and Coinbase; No. 26-CI-00696 names Polymarket US operator QCX LLC and three affiliates. Polymarket removed its case on June 18 (No. 3:26-cv-00047) and Kalshi on June 19 (No. 3:26-cv-00048, Judge Robert E. Wier). Kentucky moved to remand the Kalshi case on July 20, filed its reply on August 31, and the motion went to Judge Wier on September 1. We found no ruling on it through late September. The Polymarket defendants opposed remand on August 10, and we couldn't confirm what has happened in that case since.
United States and CFTC v. Kentucky (E.D. Ky. No. 3:26-cv-00049)
The CFTC and the Justice Department sued on June 23, 2026, naming the Commonwealth, Beshear, Coleman, Revenue Commissioner Thomas B. Miller and the KHRGC. They argue that the Commodity Exchange Act preempts both the enforcement suits and the HB 757 tax. The CFTC dropped Miller as a defendant on July 16 and withdrew its preliminary injunction motion on July 22. Judge S. Chad Meredith let the coalition intervene on August 10. Cross-motions for summary judgment and Kentucky's motions to dismiss were filed on August 24 and responses on September 21. Oral argument had been set for October 9, 2026 in Lexington. On October 5, Judge Meredith granted the CFTC's motion for supplemental briefing and canceled the hearing, which will be rescheduled after that briefing.
KalshiEX v. Schuler (6th Cir., September 25, 2026)
In Nos. 26-3196 and 26-5235, Judges Clay, Gibbons and Bloomekatz held that Kalshi's sports-event contracts are not swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act. In the alternative, they held that the act neither expressly nor impliedly preempts state gambling laws. The panel affirmed the denial of Kalshi's Ohio injunction and vacated its Tennessee injunction. The decision binds federal courts in Kentucky, including the three Eastern District cases above.
Prediction markets and daily fantasy
Kentucky's position is that sports event contracts are sports wagering that only licensed tracks may offer. No Kentucky court has ruled on that question, and both enforcement suits are waiting on remand motions (see the court cases section). HB 904 keeps licensed sportsbooks and fantasy operators from offering event contracts in the state, and the HB 757 tax on prediction market operators starts January 1, 2027. Novig (Ludlow Exchange, LLC, designated a contract market by the CFTC on June 16, 2026) isn't a party to any Kentucky case we found, and its eligibility page excludes only Nevada, Arizona and Michigan.
Players 18 and over can enter paid daily fantasy contests. HB 904 requires fantasy operators to hold a KHRGC license, with a $15,000 initial fee and $10,000 renewal, or $7,500 and $5,000 for operators already licensed as sportsbook service providers. Operators that were already running contests may continue while their applications are pending if they apply within 90 days after the KHRGC adopts its fantasy regulations. HB 757 sets a 12% tax on adjusted gross fantasy receipts and a minimum age of 21, both starting January 1, 2027.
Help with a gambling problem
Call or text 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537), or visit the Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling at kygamblinghelp.org.
Sources
Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation sports wagering page
KHRGC sports wagering licensee search (service providers, partner tracks, retail locations)
Covers: Prime Sportsbook launches in Kentucky (July 28, 2025)
Kentucky Department of Revenue sports wagering excise tax FAQ
Churchill Downs: Gov. Beshear places Kentucky's first sports wager (September 7, 2023)
GamblingWire: HB 904 passes with narrowed prediction market language
Commonwealth ex rel. Brown v. Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Ass'n (Ky. 2010)
Family Trust Foundation of Kentucky v. Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (Ky. 2020)
Kentucky Gambling Recovery LLC v. Kalshi, E.D. Ky. remand order (March 3, 2026)
Kentucky Lantern: coalition sues over the 14.25% prediction market tax
Coalition for Fair Markets v. Coleman, Franklin Circuit No. 26-CI-00667, complaint
Attorney General Coleman announces suits against Kalshi, Polymarket and VGW (June 17, 2026)
Commonwealth of Kentucky v. KalshiEX LLC, E.D. Ky. No. 3:26-cv-00048, docket
Commonwealth of Kentucky v. QCX LLC, E.D. Ky. No. 3:26-cv-00047, docket
USA v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, E.D. Ky. No. 3:26-cv-00049, docket
KalshiEX LLC v. Schuler, 6th Cir. Nos. 26-3196/26-5235 (September 25, 2026)