GeoComply helps Kentucky make up its mind about sports betting

Kentucky is going to have regulated sports betting, and this is an undeniable fact. Yet, the process of getting there was fraught with challenges. The Bluegrass State took until the very end of its legislative session to pass a last-minute bill signed by Governor Andy Beshear on Friday morning last week and promulgated into law.

Despite the somewhat long odds of House Bill 551 clearing the last hurdles, data by geolocation specialist GeoComply may have helped sway legislators in favor of backing sports gambling. The data that GeoComply leveraged to help inform lawmakers' opinions do not concern only Kentucky per se.

Rather, the company focused on Ohio, which launched on January 1, and saw a sustained interest of sports bettors from Kentucky trying to bet remotely on the neighboring state’s regulated betting market. This was of course prevented by GeoComply. The company reported that there were 1.28m geolocation checks in Kentucky since March 1.

These checks were made by some 62,000 unique player accounts which were based in the Commonwealth at the time of attempting to connect with a regulated sportsbook elsewhere. According to GeoComply’s data, 41% of the transactions targeted sportsbooks that were based and regulated in Ohio.

Another 38.6% of the checks were made with regulated sportsbooks in Indiana. The transactions were naturally blocked as they did not comply with a rule for any gambler trying to bet remotely to be in the state where their sportsbook is regulated. GeoComply presented this data readily to legislators to help them understand that there is a significant demand for sports betting in the Bluegrass State, and that it’s going to only go up regardless of whether there is actual regulation.

People in Kentucky wanted to be able to bet legally, GeoComply assured, and this is not a long time off now. GeoComply SVP of Government & Public Affairs John Pappas was particularly pleased with the development.

Pappas welcomed the opportunity to work closely with lawmakers in providing the data that convinced many of those who were hesitant about regulation to make the right call and back a regulatory framework. He particularly thanked Damon Thayer, the sponsor of the measure, which has now made sports betting in Kentucky a reality.

He also offered his thanks to Michael Meredith, a co-sponsor of the bill and another vocal proponent of sports betting regulation in Kentucky. The state took a few efforts, but it has finally made sports gambling a reality to the benefit of many. GeoComply definitely helped.

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