FLORENCE, Ky. — Two locations in Northern Kentucky now offer sports wagering to their guests. Turfway Park Racing and Gaming and Newport Racing and Gaming both celebrated that milestone Thursday. Each is owned by Churchill Downs.
Northern Kentucky resident Justin Sullivan said he could hardly wait to start betting.
“My Reds and my Bengals of course. I’m definitely going to be betting on them for sure,” Sullivan said. “Got out of work a little early. I have three kids, I don’t get the opportunity to come out and do things like this very often.”
Until Thursday, if Sullivan wanted to place a sports bet, he had to cross the river and go over to Ohio.
“We were always kind of jealous over here, that we never had it until now,” Sullivan said.
Sports wagering is now open to the public at select race tracks such as Turfway. That’s where Kentucky Lt. Governor Jacqueline Coleman placed the state’s second legal sports bet, following Gov. Andy Beshear.
Coleman’s bet was $20 on the Cincinnati Bengals to win the Super Bowl.
Coleman said it’s about time she and people such as Sullivan can place their bets in Kentucky.
“So often, they would leave Kentucky to go across the state border, spend money there that would stay in that state, and so we want to offer that same opportunity here with the revenues going into our public pension system in Kentucky — which will be so helpful to all of our firefighters, police officers, teachers, public employees,” Coleman said. “I don’t know what the reservations have been in the past, but I do think that it’s been beyond time for the voters of Kentucky. They’ve all said that they want it, and so we were able to deliver that for them.”
For the next three weeks, racetracks such Turfway will enjoy exclusivity when it comes to betting. After that, online betting will be available as well.
Sullivan said he thinks he’ll gravitate to the latter.
“Not gonna lie, it’s probably gonna be the app,” he said. “With this just starting up, this will probably be pretty big in-house. But once the app becomes available, I can see the app blowing people coming in out of the water. The app is more convenient and people nowadays are more about convenience than anything else.”
Turfway President Michael Taylor said having the option to bet will attract guests who might not otherwise have a reason to come to the venue.
In that vein, Gov. Beshear's office is projecting sports wagering to increase the state’s revenue by an estimated $23 million a year; 2.5% of that revenue will support the Problem Gambling Assistance Fund. The fund educates Kentuckians on safe gambling practices and the risks of developing a gambling problem.