Kentucky House approves higher betting age and limits on college prop wagers

Two years after legalizing sports wagering, Kentucky lawmakers have approved new restrictions that raise the betting age and limit wager types.

The Republican-controlled Kentucky House voted 79-15 on Thursday to pass House Bill 904, which sets the minimum age for sports betting at 21 and prohibits proposition bets on Kentucky college athletes. Some Republican lawmakers opposed the measure.

Rep. Michael Meredith, R-Oakland, who sponsored the state’s 2023 sports wagering law, introduced the bill following months of discussions. He told a legislative committee earlier this month that the “overwhelming majority of the public” supports raising the legal betting age.

“I’m a strong believer in, if you’re 18 and you’re an adult by every other standard, you should be an adult by all standards,” Meredith said earlier this month. “They want the age raised, and so we did it, despite my personal concerns about that.”

Prop bets involve wagers placed during a game on specific player outcomes or events. Under the bill, such wagers would no longer be allowed on individual college athletes in Kentucky.

House Bill 904 also sets licensing and regulatory requirements for fantasy sports operators in the state, and permits horse racing tracks to offer fixed-odds wagering in addition to pari-mutuel betting.

The bill bars horse racing tracks, sports wagering operators, and fantasy sports companies in Kentucky from participating in prediction markets, where users trade positions on the outcome of future events.

“Prediction markets have started moving into the space of betting on ball games, sporting events, and even prop bets on athletics as well,” Meredith said. “There has been a large-scale discussion at the national level, led by states across the country, on what is the place for regulation in these markets. Should states be able to regulate those sports-related event contracts? And we still don’t know the answer to that yet.”

Companies such as Kalshi and Polymarket have gained traction across the United States, with some sportsbooks introducing similar offerings.

With more states adopting legal sports wagering, lawmakers have examined limits on prop bets, with critics pointing to potential links to problem gambling and player harassment.

House Bill 904 now moves to the Kentucky Senate. The measure must pass before the legislative session concludes to become law.