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Online Casinos in Kentucky
Real Money
ProhibitedSweepstakes
Not trackedKentucky has no commercial casinos and licenses no online casino, but it does license online sports wagering. House Bill 551 of the 2023 Regular Session, signed on 31 March 2023, created the scheme: it required the racing commission to institute a system of sports wagering at tracks, defined "interactive sports wagering technology and service provider" in KRS 230.210, and amended the gambling offences in KRS Chapter 528 to exempt sports wagering. No equivalent exemption exists for casino games played online. The regulator, the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation, describes its remit as horse racing, pari-mutuel wagering, sports wagering, breed integrity and development, and charitable gaming. It records that retail sportsbooks opened on 7 September 2023 and mobile applications on 28 September 2023.
Kentucky Licenses Online Sports Betting and No Casino at All
Kentucky is one of the clearest cases in the country of the two verticals coming apart, because it has no commercial casinos of any kind and yet runs a licensed statewide online sportsbook market. The regulator states its own remit on its own site: "Kentucky Horse Racing & Gaming (KHRG), an independent, de jure municipal corporation and political subdivision of the Commonwealth, is charged with regulating horse racing, pari-mutuel wagering, sports wagering, breed integrity and development, and charitable gaming in Kentucky." Casino gaming is not on that list, and no Kentucky body licenses it.
Sports wagering arrived through House Bill 551 of the 2023 Regular Session, "AN ACT relating to wagering and making an appropriation therefor.", whose record shows "03/31/23: signed by Governor (Acts Ch. 147)". The Legislative Research Commission's own summary describes what it did: it created new sections of KRS Chapter 230 "to require the racing commission to institute a system of sports wagering at tracks; limit the types of events upon which wagers may be placed; establish sports wagering licensure requirements", and it went on to "amend KRS 230.210 to define "interactive sports wagering technology and service provider," "sporting event," and "sports wagering"". The regulator records when each channel opened: "Retail locations opened on September 7, 2023, and mobile applications opened on September 28, 2023."
Why Online Casino Games Are a Different Answer
The most telling part of the 2023 act is the housekeeping. To make sports wagering lawful, the legislature had to "amend KRS 243.500, 525.090, 528.010, 528.020, 528.070, and 528.080 to exempt sports wagering". KRS Chapter 528 is Kentucky's gambling chapter, and its sections carry titles such as "Promoting gambling in the first degree.", "Permitting gambling." and ".080 Possession of gambling device." Sports wagering needed to be carved out of those offences by name. Nothing has been carved out for casino games played online, and Kentucky licenses none. A reader using a licensed Kentucky sportsbook app should not infer that online slots or table games are licensed there, because they are not. This site does not point readers at operators that are not licensed where they are.
Sweepstakes Casinos: Why No Status Is Recorded
No Kentucky statute, regulation or official opinion addressing dual-currency online sweepstakes casinos was found for this page, so no sweepstakes status is recorded rather than one being inferred from the real-money position or from what other states have done. Sweepstakes casinos and real-money casinos are separate products and neither is presented here as a licensed version of the other.
Why No Casinos Are Listed for Kentucky
Real-money online casino play is prohibited in Kentucky, so no casinos are listed here.
Online Casino Status by State
Real-money and sweepstakes status are tracked separately, and a dash means nobody has checked yet — not that nothing is permitted.
| State | Real money | Sweepstakes | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky | Prohibited | — | |
| Alabama | Prohibited | — | |
| Alaska | Prohibited | — | |
| Arizona | Prohibited | — | |
| Arkansas | Prohibited | — | |
| California | Prohibited | Prohibited | |
| Colorado | — | — | |
| Connecticut | Regulated | Prohibited | |
| Delaware | Regulated | Prohibited | |
| Florida | Prohibited | — | |
| Georgia | Prohibited | — | |
| Hawaii | Prohibited | — |
12 of 51 shown. All 51 states and territories →
Sources
- Kentucky General Assembly, House Bill 551 (2023 Regular Session, Acts Chapter 147) ↗
- Kentucky Revised Statutes, Chapter 528, Gambling ↗
- Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation ↗
- National Council on Problem Gambling: the National Problem Gambling Helpline, 1-800-MY-RESET ↗
- Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation: Sports Wagering, the retail and mobile launch dates ↗
Support in Kentucky
The National Problem Gambling Helpline™ is operated by the National Council on Problem Gambling and can be reached on 1-800-MY-RESET by call or text. The NCPG publishes 1-800-MY-RESET as the national number on its own pages, and that is the number recorded here because it is the one the helpline operator itself publishes. Older state and industry materials sometimes print a different national number, so more than one is in circulation; where a state body publishes its own helpline, that number is shown alongside this one. The helpline offers call, text and chat services 24/7/365 and its network covers all 50 states and the U.S. territories.