Louisville venues prepare to offer sports betting

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Newly legalized sports betting means new business opportunities for licensed venues across Kentucky.

On Tuesday, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission approved 17 licenses allowing businesses and racetracks to offer sports betting.

Now, many are revealing when and how Kentuckians can place their bets.

One of those venues is the Louisville Thoroughbred Society. The private social club serves as a place for parimutuel horse betting. Now, the club is able to change its business model to offer betting on college and professional sports.

“We’ve always been a horse club where you can come and bet on the horses at the parimutuel machines here so this really diversifies our offering to our members,” Director and COO Erica Outlaw said. “So we go from being a “thoroughbred” location to being all sports across the board.”

Outlaw said LTS hopes more offerings will bring in more memberships. The club is now able to expand from operating five days a week to seven days a week.

“All around the club we have 28 TVs,” Outlaw said. “So they will all be programmed specifically for college sports, NFL, Thursday night, Sunday night, Monday night football.”

Churchill Downs announced they’ll be offering in-person sports betting at these locations beginning Sept. 7:

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission also approved temporary licenses for three online sports wagering service providers that will operate in partnership with Churchill Down’s racetracks: FanDuel, Penn Sports Interactive and Fanatics.

With other nearby cities like Nashville and Indianapolis already profiting from sports betting, businesses like the Louisville Thoroughbred Society see it as a new major revenue stream for Kentucky.

“It’s going to bring so much more dollars here to the state,” Outlaw said. “Not only to individual businesses like Churchill Downs, racetracks, and the Louisville Thoroughbred Society but to the local economy.”