Every September, the Interim Joint Committee on Licensing Occupations and Administrative Regulations likes to focus on updates in the horse racing industry.

This week, the committee heard from the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gambling Corporation, as well as the Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling.

Our McKenzie Spink brings us the updates on horse racing and gambling in Kentucky.

In tonight's legislative update for the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation, or CRG, was created in 2024.

It combines the regulation of horse racing, pari mutuel wagering and sports betting under one organization.

This July, CRG finalized their funding structure and added charitable gaming to their purview.

Representative Kevin Jackson said that last year he was hearing concerns from charitable gaming facilitators like local veterans clubs, and asked for an update on the transition.

Craig says it should be business as usual.

The compliance officers that these clubs see routinely should be familiar faces from the previous organization.

Do you know of any negative impact that this has had on them or any charitable, gaming organizations?

Not that I haven't heard of any complaints.

I hope there's not any.

Henry's got ten compliance officers that are sprinkled across the Commonwealth that are in your community.

Go to the VFW years, and those are the same ten that were with Henry a year ago, right?

Yeah.

So it should all be familiar faces.

Okay.

Tax revenue from pari mutual wagering, like on track betting or historical horse racing, ends up in several different buckets, including equine research and the state's general fund.

But Louisville Democrat and Minority Caucus Chair Al Gentry says there's a big missing piece in this equation.

HHR casinos how much excise tax revenues the state bring in.

Go back to local governments where these things are housed.

The casinos.

I do not have that information, but I'm happy.

Okay.

It's zero.

Okay.

It's the biggest flaw in our gaming model today in Kentucky.

There are social cost involved with gaming, and I've always been a gaming advocate.

But, and a lot of those costs fall upon local governments where these things are housed.

So we really need to look at that.

All the other states do it.

Representative gentry also has concerns about computer assisted wagering, or KW card or bets that come in at the last minute before a pool closes.

Representative gentry says it's causing frustration for regular players who spend a lot of time and even locate a horse.

It's it's ready to run and ready to go.

And and you think you're going to get him a four to 5 to 1.

And he actually does perform like you thought and comes in and then we found out it pays 9 to 5 because there was a ton of money that came in at some computer algorithm, group the no telling where that came from and massive amounts of money that sent the wagers down right before the race went off.

So it's something that we need to be aware of moving forward.

She says it's already looking into computer assisted wagers, and that in other states like California, CA are already blocked in the more popular pools.

The Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling is a part of the cabinet for Health and Family Services.

It receives some of the tax revenue from sports betting to provide help to compulsive gamblers.

The council presented its recent helpline data to the committee in an eight month period in 2025.

The council's helpline received more than 2500 phone calls.

Compare that to 2022, before Kentucky legalized sports betting.

The helpline received just over 700 phone calls.

Mike Stone, executive director of the council, says the increase is partly due to the growing awareness concerning gambling addiction.

As the statistician on the Kentucky Council board points out, the number of people with a possible problem may have existed for a long time, but now surface in the data due to awareness.

The awareness that gambling can be addictive is heightened by the ubiquitous messaging about gambling in the media, particularly in advertising during sporting events.

Stone also says that there currently aren't enough specialized counselors to treat disordered gambling.

Do we have enough people who are able to address gambling addictions?

No, we do not have enough.

We need somewhere in the neighborhood of 24, counselors across the state.

And in the.

Another problem in Kentucky, with the availability of counselors is the concentration in, very few areas.

Most of the state is is void of constantly opportunities.

Next month, 26 counselors will receive intensive training to be certified gambling counselors.

Stone hopes this will mean greater access to professional help for problem gamblers across the state.

We have, representation from, well, let me say Outstate not just from Louisville, Lexington, Northern Kentucky, Owensboro, but from but from a wider range of the state.

According to the National Council on Problem Gaming, almost 80% of Kentuckians gamble in some form every year.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Mackenzie Spink.

Although calls to the gambling hotline have increased since sports betting was legalized, the number has gone down by 17% since last year.