Top 8 Kentucky Sports Betting Sites

Kentucky, a state with a rich sporting heritage, offers an array of options for sports betting enthusiasts. The state’s deep connection with basketball and horse racing, coupled with its growing interest in football and baseball, creates a dynamic environment for sports betting. The best sports betting sites in Kentucky cater to this unique blend of interests, providing comprehensive coverage of local favorites and national mainstays.

These top-tier sportsbooks are designed to enhance the betting experience for Kentuckians. They offer in-depth coverage of college basketball, tapping into the state’s fervor for the sport, and unparalleled access to horse racing markets, reflecting Kentucky’s storied history with the sport. Football and baseball are also prominently featured, aligning with national trends and local interests.

The leading sports betting platforms in Kentucky are known for their user-friendly interfaces, ensuring that both seasoned bettors and newcomers can navigate the sites with ease. They prioritize the integrity and excitement of sports betting, offering a diverse range of betting options from standard wagers to more intricate bets. These sites also emphasize responsible gaming, ensuring a safe and enjoyable experience for all users.

In Kentucky, where sports pulse through the state’s veins, these betting sites offer a way to engage with favorite pastimes, adding an extra layer of excitement to every game, match, or race.

8 Best Kentucky Sports Betting Sites

1.  BetUS

BetUS, established in 1994 and licensed by the Curacao Gaming Commission, is a reputable online sports betting platform known for its secure and reliable services. It also functions as a casino, offering a wide spectrum of betting options.

In Kentucky, BetUS aligns its offerings with the state’s rich sporting culture, particularly highlighting the world-famous Kentucky Derby. Besides this iconic horse racing event, the platform also caters to Kentucky’s interest in national sports leagues like the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL. This ensures a broad range of betting options for Kentucky sports enthusiasts. BetUS additionally offers live betting, allowing fans to engage in real-time wagering during games and races, enhancing the excitement of the sporting experience. To accommodate Kentucky bettors, the platform supports diverse payment methods, including Visa, Mastercard, and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Exclusive Discount Code: GAMINGNET

Bonus: Use our BetUS promo code when signing up to get a 225% deposit bonus up to $3,625, 100% sports free play, and additional casino games bonuses

2.  Everygame

Established in 1996, originally as Intertops, Everygame has grown to become one of the top sportsbooks in the industry, particularly popular in Kentucky.

While Everygame boasts diverse sections including casino and poker, its primary focus remains on sports betting, a feature especially appealing in Kentucky, a state known for its passionate sports culture. Upon accessing the sportsbook, visitors are greeted with a wide array of sports categories. In Kentucky, the spotlight often shines on basketball and horse racing, reflecting the state’s deep-rooted affinity for these sports. Additionally, Everygame offers options in football, baseball, and other popular sports, catering to the diverse interests of Kentucky’s sports enthusiasts.

Everygame truly lives up to its name by providing extensive betting options across various sports, with competitive odds and the exciting feature of live betting. This aspect is particularly enticing for those who wish to immerse themselves in the game’s atmosphere before placing their bet, aligning perfectly with the vibrant sports scene in Kentucky.

Bonus: Everygame gifts newcomers up to $500 to help you get started on the right foot. You can claim your bonus today and put it straight into your betting, and hit the ground running.

3.  Bovada

Bovada sportsbook and casino emerged in 2011. For the first five years of operation, the platform held the Kahnawake Gambling Commission’s license, but in 2016, it decided to give up on it after the Commission went through a policy change that Bovada did not approve of. For the last six years, it has operated without a license, but that still did not affect its quality or performance.

Its sportsbook offers a variety of popular payment methods, and the ability to bet on all kinds of big sports franchises, such as the NBA, NFL, MLB, NCAA football, NCAA basketball, and NHL, among others. Apart from traditional currencies, it also accepts Bitcoin, and it features mobile availability. And, if bettors ever experience an issue or need any sort of help, they can contact customer support at any time via email, phone call, or live chat.

Bonus: If you follow our link and sign up at Bovada, you can claim up to $3,750 as part of your welcome bonus. From there on, you will get all sorts of extra sports bonuses and offers, to heighten your sports betting experience.

4.  BetOnline

BetOnline is an online sportsbook that launched in 2004, and like our previous entries, it also offers a casino section with plenty of entertaining gaming titles. It is very user-friendly, starting with the fact that it offers a minimum deposit of $20, it features polite and capable customer support, and it is safe to use. It holds the Panama City license, and it features multiple secure payment methods, including Visa, Mastercard, Discover card, American Express, wire transfers, and even cryptocurrencies.

For those who make a minimum deposit of $55, the platform offers a generous welcome bonus, and those who use cryptocurrencies can also benefit from a number of promotions. In addition to regular, monotonous betting, there is also proposition betting that lets users bet on questions, such as which team will be the first to make the 3-point shot, and alike, just so make it more exciting.

Bonus: Sign up at BetOnline today and you will receive up to $250 in bonus bets and a side of 100 free spins.

5.  Xbet

Xbet is a platform known for a lot of things, from tight betting odds to excellent customer service and the ability to offer things for novices and professionals alike. Xbet offers a myriad of deposit options, fast payouts, multiple betting options, bonuses, and a lot more that makes it highly attractive to bettors all over Kentucky.

The benefits of using this platform keep popping up, but in terms of flaws, it only has 3 eSports games, at least for the time being. But, there are plenty of regular sports, like MLB; NHL, WNBA, golf, soccer, tennis, MMA, boxing, NASCAR, F1, and many more options for new and experienced bettors.

Bonus: Xbet will give you a 50% sign on bonus worth up to $500 when you sign up. From there onwards, you will get all sorts of excellent offers to bring the most out of your sports betting.

6.  BUSR

In the sixth spot, we have BUSR, which stands for Bet US Racing. This is easily the best racebook for the US, and one of the leading sportsbooks, available across the country, with the only exceptions being New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Nevada. Luckily, Kentucky is not on the list.

There are numerous betting options on the platform, apart from horse races, such as MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, MMA, NCAA, betting on live baseball, and more. The platform offers multiple bonuses, including a sign-up bonus, casino bonus, cash bonus, and referral bonus. It also has great customer service available around the clock available via phone call, live chat, or email.

Bonus: When you create an account at BUSR, you will receive up to $1,000 in sports betting bonuses, which will go a long way with your sports predictions.

7.  MyBookie

Nearing the end of the list, we have MyBookie, which is among the most trusted platforms for online gambling in Kentucky. Like most sportsbooks, it also offers a casino section, but both offer top-notch betting opportunities, with the sportsbook also featuring live betting options. You can bet on a variety of major international sports like basketball, football, soccer, and alike, as well as cricket, rugby, and even politics and entertainment.

MyBookie features multiple bonuses, such as a 50% sign-up bonus, a 10% cash bonus, and a 150% Casino bonus. The minimum deposit for Visa and Mastercard is somewhat elevated, sitting at $45, but if you use cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum Litecoin, or XRP, the minimum is only $20. Other than that, the platform also has 24/7 customer service available via email, live chat, and even phone calls, so you can always reach out if there is a need.

Bonus: Sign up with MyBookie and you will get a generous boost worth up to $1,000 and $10 in casino chips. The welcome offer is only the tip of the iceberg as far as offers are concerned at MyBookie.

8.  SportsBetting.ag

The last on the list is SportsBetting.ag, which is actually a platform operated by BetOnline Group. The platform does not offer a great design, but don’t be deceived by that — it has been around for nearly two decades for a reason. It did experience financial issues in 2012, and BetOnline used this opportunity to take over. Ever since, the platform has been running smoothly, licensed by the Panama Gambling Control Board, and servicing US bettors with no issues.

It features multiple great betting opportunities, and a variety of payment methods, including crypto and fiat options alike, and it even has a casino section. In terms of available sports, there are all the popular ones, such as soccer, football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and even things like snooker, darts, and handball. A welcome bonus is also included, and so are numerous promotions for crypto users, and even a loyalty and VIP program.

Bonus: When you sign up at Sportsbetting.ag you can pick between three welcome offers: Sports, casino and poker. Your sports offer is worth up to $1,000 and is followed by a plethora of goodies and perks.

Kentucky Gambling Landscape

Kentucky legalized sports betting in September of 2023, after HB 551 was signed into law by Gov Andy Beshear in April. The state has several approved sportsbooks, which are partnered with local racetracks, and can offer both online and retail sports betting. BetMGM, Caesars, DraftKings, FanDuel and Sports Interactive all applied for service provider licenses. Licensees are regulated by the racetracks, which are overseen by the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Commission. An independent agency of the state, the KHRGC regulates all horse racing, sports wagering and pari-mutuel wagering in Kentucky.

Six months on, and the Kentucky sports handle hit over $1.36 bn, with an especially high interest in football betting and horse race betting. NCAA betting on March Madness and the College Football Playoffs is also highly popular, and legal in the eyes of the law.

The legal age for gambling in Kentucky is 18, which is younger than the 21+ requirement in neighboring states. It’s lenient gambling laws and attractive portfolio of sportsbooks have attracted lots of gamer and bettors. The legal sportsbooks in Kentucky have had a major impact on the gambling scene in Kentucky, making it safer and creating a highly competitive market for players to benefit from. Though our main focus is on the international sportsbooks, which are not licensed by any racetracks, but provide a more substantial betting offering for Kentuckians.

State-Approved Legal Sportsbooks

As mentioned earlier, in Kentucky the legal sportsbooks are all partnered with local racetracks. These include some of the most famous tracks such as Churchill Downs, Derby City, Ellis Park, Oak Grove and Turfway. Racetracks are allowed to license up to three sportsbooks each, and there are 10 racetracks, allowing up to 30 sportsbooks to operate in the Bluegrass State.

• BetMGM – Sandy’s Gaming and Racing
• Bet365 – Sandy’s Gaming and Racing
• FanDuel – Churchill Downs
• Caesars – Red Mile Racing
• DraftKings – Cumberland Run
• ESPN Bet – Ellis Entertainment

These sportsbooks are all highly reputable and have competitive sports coverage in addition to their well-priced odds. But there are some caveats. The US-based sportsbooks (and bet365 – which is based in the UK), can have limited offerings at times. For example, the horse racing bets provided at FanDuel or DraftKings are not as diverse as what you can get at some international online casinos, though bet365 does have a fairly substantial offering.

A big difference between the betting experience at those sites against foreign online sportsbooks is the quality of the bonuses. The promotional offers and bonuses at the likes of DraftKings and FanDuel include regular odds boosts and bonus bets, but they are mainly tied to the NBA and NFL. Also, they are very limited when it comes to cashback offers and reload deposit offers.

The biggest difference though, is that these regulated sportsbooks will not accept crypto payments. As far as cryptocurrencies and sports betting are concerned, your best bet is signing up at an international casino. The US is nowhere near legalizing crypto gambling, should it ever be considered.

Most Popular Sports to Bet on in Kentucky

The biggest thing in Kentucky in regards to sports is college basketball. The state has two leading programs — one at the University of Kentucky and another at the University of Louisville. One good thing about the current situation is that sports betting on in-state collegiate teams will no longer be prohibited in Kentucky, thanks to Koenig’s decision to remove that clause from the bill after numerous complaints from legislators. Apparently, they believe that this will be among the biggest and most popular bets in the state.

DFS in Kentucky

Daily Fantasy Sports is legal in Kentucky and has been since sports betting was legalized. Bettors have access to companies such as FanDuel, Fantasy Draft, Yahoo!, and DraftKings.

Horse Racing in Kentucky?

Everyone has heard of the Kentucky Derby, which is likely the biggest and the most famous horse race in the entire country. You can bet on the Kentucky Derby at any of the legal sportsbooks in Kentucky, or the international sportsbooks that we have selected for you. One of the sponsors of the Kentucky Derby is Twinspires, a US sportsbook that is only licensed for horse race betting in Kentucky.

The Kentucky Derby is held annually at Churchill Downs, and it has run every year since 1875, with only a few exceptions. Legal horse racing has been part of Kentucky history since 1805, making it an old and deeply rooted tradition that has lasted for over two centuries now. And, while Churchill Downs gets all the attention, there are actually a few more prominent tracks in the state.

Some of the most notable examples include Keeneland, Pimlico, Belmont, Red Mile (Lexington), Turfway Park (Florence), Ellis Park (Henderson), and more.