FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18)– With four Kentucky schools in the NCAA Tournament this year, excitement is flourishing in the Commonwealth.
However, because lawmakers did not pass sports betting legislation, the state won’t be getting any extra money from the madness.
When the Supreme Court made it’s 2018 decision to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Act the game changed, allowing states to write their own sports betting laws.
States like Mississippi, West Virginia, and New Jersey are up and running.
If Kentucky lawmakers had passed a bill allowing the state to regulate and tax sports wagering at the start of the session, they could have added an emergency clause to go into effect immediately– just in time to place NCAA bets.
Senator Morgan McGarvey says that money could have helped with the state’s underfunded pension crisis.
“I would like all of those people to think about the millions of dollars Kentucky is going to lose this year because we didn’t pass sports gaming in the general assembly.”
McGarvey says although it’s too late this year, he’s hopeful lawmakers will pass a sports betting bill before the madness comes back around next year.
