Great News- Another State Is Inching Closer To Legalizing Online Poker/Gaming/DFS (Plus Check Out This #BadBeatOfTheWeek)

Boooom, baby! Let's go Kentucky!!!!! Read more about this bill that has already passed through the Kentucky legislasture:

Betting USA - We’re barely two weeks into 2020, and a bill that would bring legal sports betting, daily fantasy sports, and online poker to the Commonwealth is already advancing through the Kentucky legislature.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Adam Koenig, breezed through the House Licensing, Occupations and Administrative Regulations Committee on Wednesday with an 18-0 vote. 

Of course, the centerpiece of the bill is sports betting.

On the sports betting front, HB 137 calls for:

• Licensing fees of $500,000 with an annual renewal fee of $50,000
• A retail tax rate of 10.25% and an online tax rate of 14.25%
• Setting aside 5% of tax revenue (after regulatory costs) for problem gambling programs

The bill will also benefit from a procedural rule. Kentucky requires a 2/3 vote for tax-related bills in a non-budget year, as was the case in 2019. The legislature needs a simple majority vote to legalize sports betting and online poker in 2020.

Lots of good news to unpack in there- passed through the House Licensing, Occupations and Administrative Regulations Committee with an 18-0 vote. I'm not sure exactly what that all means but I'll take an 18-0 vote as a strong vote of confidence.

The bill includes sports betting, which obviously is the hottest topic in the lawmaking streets right now. And it begs the question, why aren't all the states that are legalizing sports betting tacking online poker onto these bills as well? Drives me nuts, but at least Kentucky has the right idea.

And perhaps a large detail that shouldn't go overlooked is while last year they needed a 2/3 vote to pass this bill, this year they only need a majority vote. That's huge. Why? Because check this little tidbit out:

Newly elected Gov. Andy Beshear wasn’t shy about voicing his pro-gaming expansion opinions during a closely contested race with incumbent Matt Bevin, who was vehemently opposed to the idea of expanded gambling.

Thank you!!! Someone with a brain in politics, would you imagine that? That comes right on the heels of the governor of Maine vetoing a bill that was passed by the state house and senate because she feels she's smarter than everyone. Good to know this governor won't be so stupid.

I was preaching about this yesterday on the podcast. How god damn stupid New York is to let all the gambling money go to New Jersey. So many people drive over to New Jersey to sports bet, and New York is just happy to let them go, it's crazytown.

The new episode is possibly our best show to date. Ever wonder what it's like to make a deep run in the WSOP? Jake talks about his 34th place finish in 2015. He also talks about how he used to back poker players and ended up losing $200,000 on just one guy. Yikes. We also close the show with our bad beats of the week- send in yours if you have a good one. This one so far is the winner:

So not only did he not win the casino's high hand bonus, but he didn't even collect a bad beat jackpot because theirs starts paying out at quad 7s. And he lost the hand. That is certainly a horrific, terrible beat.

Thanks to everyone who tunes in to the podcast. If there is an episode to start with, today's is a great start. We're on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and I think everywhere else.