00:00 (upbeat music)
00:03 - You know, Kentucky gets sports betting.
00:04 They got retail sports betting
00:06 for those people who live in Kentucky.
00:08 You can bet on sports at Churchill Downs right now
00:09 if you want and online coming at the end of the month.
00:12 But there is an individual called the godfather
00:15 of what, sports in Kentucky?
00:18 I've never heard of this before,
00:20 but apparently all things, systems go happy
00:22 with the way that things have gone here
00:24 over the course of the week.
00:26 - Yeah, so Adam Koenig,
00:27 he's a former representative in Kentucky.
00:31 He first started proposing sports betting bills in 2019,
00:35 really big champion of the issue.
00:38 He didn't get any movement the first, I think, two years.
00:42 Then one year he got it over through the house
00:45 and didn't do anything in the Senate, that was last year.
00:48 And then he was voted out of the house.
00:52 So he didn't get to be part of the, you know,
00:56 ceremonies this year or it wasn't his bill anymore,
01:00 but essentially they kept all the language the same.
01:02 So he is known by many of the people
01:06 who got it done this year,
01:07 the godfather of sports betting in Kentucky.
01:10 And yeah, pretty much the whole system was put together
01:13 and based on what he had proposed in the past.
01:16 And yeah, so I caught up with him last week
01:19 before it launched and we'll have a Q&A up with him
01:22 sometime, hopefully today, where, yeah,
01:25 I kind of went through of why he was a big proponent
01:28 of sports betting.
01:29 He said, you know, I'm a small government conservative
01:31 and I don't think it's right that people get told
01:34 what to do or what not to do.
01:35 He's not a big better himself.
01:37 So that, I think that's kind of funny
01:38 that he's become the godfather of sports betting.
01:41 But yeah, it's just a really kind of interesting note.
01:46 And, you know, we talked about why the horse tracks
01:48 had to be involved.
01:49 He said, if they weren't, the sports betting
01:50 wasn't gonna get done in Kentucky.
01:53 And why is it 18 and up at retail?
01:57 So you could go to Churchill Downs if you're 18 and bet.
02:00 And he said, again, that's horse racing, you know,
02:01 that's the age that you have to be to bet
02:03 on horses down there.
02:04 So it was just kind of fun to catch up with this guy.
02:07 He's not upset that he wasn't the one to lead
02:12 the final charge to get it through
02:13 all the way to the governor.
02:15 He's actually happy that Representative Michael Meredith
02:19 and Senator Damon Thayer kind of are the champions
02:21 that finished it 'cause he said
02:22 they're better communicators than he is,
02:24 which was kind of funny.
02:25 He seems pretty humble despite, you know,
02:27 being lauded by both of those aforementioned people
02:30 as well as Governor Andy Beshear
02:32 as the godfather of sports betting.
02:34 So it's kind of funny that, you know,
02:37 he wasn't part of it this year,
02:39 but every time you look at the ceremonial ribbon cuttings
02:42 and first bets and stuff, he's there.
02:45 And so, yeah, it's kind of a fun story
02:48 just to kind of cap off a big week in Kentucky.
02:52 And as you mentioned, September 28th,
02:54 it'll be going online and it's gonna be really fun
02:56 to see the activity down there in Kentucky.
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