Legal sports wagering opens in Kentucky with governor making first bet

(7 Sep 2023)

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4452453

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Louisville, Kentucky - 7 September 2023
1. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear placing state’s first sports bet
Headline text: Legal sports betting begins in Kentucky
ANNOTATION: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear plunked down $20 on a college football bet to signal the start of legal sports wagering in the Bluegrass State.
2. Row of sports betting kiosks
3. Wide on sports betting kiosks
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Gov. Andy Beshear, (D) Kentucky:
“We are here to mark the very first day and the very first sports wager placed here at the historic Churchill Downs. Within just a moment, I will place the first bet in the history of Kentucky."
5. Wagering sign
ANNOTATION: Wagers can be placed at the state's well known horse racetracks and mobile betting will begin later this month.
6. Gov. Andy Beshear poses with his wager

STORYLINE:
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear plunked down a $20 bet Thursday on two home-state college football teams — and against an arch-nemesis school — in a quick transaction signaling that legal sports wagering is off and running in the Bluegrass State.

The Democratic governor placed the first sports bet at historic Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, fulfilling a pledge that his administration would launch sports wagering in time for the NFL regular season.

“It’s an exciting day that we have wanted and... worked for, for so long,” Beshear said afterward.

It will be some time before Beshear can collect on his wager — if he wins. The governor bet that the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville football teams will win more games this season than oddsmakers predict, and that Duke University will win fewer games than projected. Duke is a long-running basketball rival for both Kentucky and Louisville. Any winnings from the ceremonial first sports bets placed at the track Thursday will be donated to the Louisville Sports Commission, officials said.

Sports wagering facilities opened elsewhere in the state Thursday during the first phase of the rollout. At a betting facility in Lexington, state Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, who helped champion the sports betting legislation, placed his own wager.

"Starting today, no Kentuckian will ever have to take their hard-earned money to another state just to place a sports bet,” the Republican lawmaker said.

Mobile betting, which allows bets to be placed online using smartphones, will begin later this month.

The venture is projected to generate about $23 million in yearly revenue for the state, though some supporters predict higher amounts. Most of the revenue will go to Kentucky's public pension system. And it will stop the siphoning of revenue to other states where Kentuckians previously placed sports bets.

Sports betting became a reality after a prolonged political fight. The state's GOP-dominated legislature finished work on the bill to legalize, regulate and tax sports wagering in late March during the final hours of its annual session. Beshear quickly signed the measure into law.

AP Video shot by Dylan Lovan

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