Kentucky has answered an early question: legal sports betting was something the citizens wanted.
Although Kentuckians wagered more than $4 million in the first two weeks of retail sports betting in the state, they’d apparently been eagerly awaiting the online launch on Thursday.
According to GeoComply, an anti-fraud and geolocation solutions company that assures bettors are within legal jurisdictions, 2,020,119 geolocation checks were made on the first full day of sports betting in Kentucky.
That came from nearly 200,000 active accounts during that span.
And that made Kentucky a pound-for-pound power, at least in the very early rounds of its legal sports betting history. Kentucky’s sports betting revenue potential is often compared to Louisiana’s because the states’ populations are relatively similar (Kentucky: 4.5 million; Louisiana: 4.6 million). But Kentucky nearly doubled that of Louisiana within that first 24 hours, although Louisiana’s launch came as somewhat of a cold-open surprise on Oct. 30, 2021.
Still, impressive for Kentucky even with its launch date well-publicized.
The pin drop map below details attempts to log onto, register, or bet with sportsbook apps in Kentucky in the hours before the Lions-Packers Thursday night football game. GeoComply asserts they are representative, but not comprehensive.
That said, the map leading up to the Bengals-Titans Week 4 NFL game on Sunday figures to be frenetic considering the fanbases of each team in Kentucky.
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