Kentucky sports betting continued a hot start through its first weekend online.
GeoComply tracked more than 10 million geolocation checks for Kentucky sports betting from the 6 am launch Thursday through Monday Night Football. Those pings came from more than 325,000 sports betting accounts, according to the company.
The full weekend number builds on the more than 2 million check-ins through the first 24 hours last week. The statistics help showcase the power of NFL betting, which Kentucky legislators and regulators wanted to capture early in their launch.
How Kentucky compares to Louisiana
Louisiana has a similar population to Kentucky’s 4.5 million, with approximately 100,000 more residents. During its first 36 hours of mobile sports betting in 2022, the Bayou State registered 3.4 million geolocation pings.
The pings count as any time a user engages an online sportsbook, like:
- Registering an account
- Logging in
- Placing a bet
Louisiana’s launch was aided by former LSU quarterback Joe Burrow‘s presence in the AFC Championship and Super Bowl.
During the first full month of mobile Louisiana betting, February 2022, sportsbooks took $238.4 million in bets. The first month included the Super Bowl but did not carry a full NFL slate like Kentucky’s first-month totals will.
Operators launched for Kentucky sports betting
Before the online launch, Gov. Andy Beshear said there were more than 60,000 accounts registered for Kentucky sports betting.
The more than 325,000 accounts identified this weekend are spread across seven sportsbooks:
- Barstool Sportsbook
- Bet365
- BetMGM
- Caesars
- DraftKings
- Fanatics
- FanDuel
Circa Sports will launch in the coming weeks, according to Beshear.
Potential for Kentucky sports betting
In-person sportsbooks took more than $4.5 million in wagers during their first two weeks of operation last month. LSR projections expect sportsbooks to take up to $1 billion by the end of the year in Kentucky.
The estimates suggest Kentucky operators could handle up to $2.9 billion in sports bets annually.
Sportsbooks could generate approximately $250 million in sports betting revenue, with the state taking in $30 million in annual taxes.
