Kentucky's Legal Sports Betting: Promising Start and Future
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:03 - All right, Jim, it's great to catch up with you
00:05 and sort of recap, I would say, the week.
00:07 Well, not full week,
00:08 but the week of sports betting in Kentucky.
00:10 Now, we do know that people in the state
00:13 have been able to bet on sports since earlier this month,
00:16 but with it going live online
00:18 and people downloading those apps
00:20 and seeing all the promotions, by the way, on social media,
00:23 what did you make of Kentucky's first legal week
00:26 of sports betting?
00:28 - Yeah, so far, so good, Craig,
00:30 from the handful of folks in Kentucky
00:35 that I spoke to yesterday
00:38 and in the lead up to the online launch going live yesterday.
00:43 Seems like everything is running rather smooth.
00:46 Some reps from FanDuel
00:49 that I was exchanging messages with yesterday,
00:51 they told me that they are, quote,
00:54 all in on Kentucky from the sports betting end
00:58 and the horse racing end as well.
01:01 Obviously, the sports betting online
01:04 going live there yesterday,
01:06 and we're in the midst of the fall racing meet at Churchill,
01:11 which is being broadcast on FanDuel TV slash,
01:16 or I guess I should say,
01:17 formally known as TVG for the first time in over a decade.
01:21 So the FanDuel team certainly excited
01:24 about the prospects and the future.
01:28 In Kentucky, chatted with a rep from Keeneland,
01:32 which has partnered with Caesar Sportsbook,
01:35 and all signs pointing to a smooth launch
01:40 for Caesar's there.
01:43 Like you mentioned, we did see the retail sports betting
01:48 begin in Kentucky on September 7th,
01:51 the same day that the NFL season kicked off.
01:55 Four and a half million dollars bet in person
01:58 over the first two weeks.
01:59 Now, obviously, that's going to increase significantly now
02:04 with the online launch.
02:06 Those racetracks where those in-person sportsbooks
02:10 are located, they still stand to benefit
02:13 from this online launch.
02:14 You have the partnership deals
02:17 with those online sportsbooks
02:19 because the licensing runs through those racetracks.
02:23 So that means upfront fees for that partnership,
02:28 annual fees for that partnership,
02:30 as well as a revenue sharing arrangement
02:33 between the track and that online sportsbook.
02:35 So as we see things start to pick up
02:39 and kind of take off here in Kentucky,
02:43 the racetracks most likely won't get left behind.
02:47 I spoke to a representative from Monmouth Park in New Jersey
02:51 where a similar setup is,
02:53 they have a similar setup in New Jersey
02:56 where the racetrack or the casino kind of holds that license
03:01 and they have a partnership with the online sportsbook.
03:04 And that representative at Monmouth Park told me
03:06 that that's been especially critical for them
03:10 and the horse racing industry in New Jersey,
03:12 allowing it to stay in business
03:14 as they have that revenue share
03:17 with the popular online sportsbook.
03:19 So that money continues to flow in for the racetracks
03:22 as we will undoubtedly see it take shape here in Kentucky
03:27 over the next weeks, months, and years, presumably.
03:32 (upbeat music)
03:34 [MUSIC]