KENTUCKY (WFIE) – NFL regular season games kick off In Kentucky, which means sports betting is ramping up for its second year.

This is the second year sports betting is legal in the commonwealth, one of 38 states that allows this sort of gaming

Kentucky is also coming up on its anniversary of online betting.

The American Gaming Association has announced its first-ever legal wagering estimate for the NFL season.

AGA predicts that Americans will bet a record amount on legal sportsbooks this season,

$35,000,000,000.

The NFL kickoff on Thursday is adding to that prediction.

While sports betting is still fairly new in Kentucky, and primarily dominated in the eastern part of the state, gaming officials are hoping to make that increase in the western part of the state by adding new books.

For example in Franklin, Mint Gaming Hall is adding a Circa Sportsbook, while the Bowling Green location is adding Draft Kings.

Mint Gaming Hall Marketing Director, John Wholihan, says they are hoping to see a connection between sports like football, basketball and Kentucky’s favorite, racing.

“If you look at what’s happened in Las Vegas and other places, once you get that book built from time to time again they’ll require a freshening depending on how things go,” Wholihan says. “We’d also like to see with sports, you know in Kentucky we’re big on racing, we already have our own simulcasting, we already have our own simulcasting, it’s nice to see sports and racing simulcasting coming together.”

Wholihan says increasing the availability and exposure to different sportsbooks and betting avenues will only continue in the western part of the state.

Wholihan also says facilities in the Commonwealth may even look like the full-fledged strip in Vegas in just a few years.

Copyright 2024 WFIE. All rights reserved.