Kentucky sports betting has thrived since retail and online sportsbooks launched in September 2023. The governor has announced that roughly one month since the launch, upwards of $250 million has been wagered and that roughly 500,000 mobile accounts have been created for online sportsbooks. Since there are no restrictions on which sports can be wagered on or what kind of prop bets can be placed unlike restrictions on residents in other states, anyone using Kentucky sports betting sites can place bets on everything from football to college basketball games.

One factor that makes Kentucky sports betting such a success is that there is a wide variety of sportsbook apps to choose from if you want to place a wager from the comfort of your own home. Here is a closer look at some of the top KY sportsbooks. If you’re not in Kentucky, check out the best USA sports betting sites:

Top Kentucky Sports Betting Sites and Mobile Apps

FANATICS SPORTSBOOK
Already a leader in fan gear, Fanatics Sportsbook opened in 2023 and is establishing itself as the “most rewarding” sportsbook.

• WHAT TO KNOW: when you play with Fanatics, you can earn up to 5% FanCash on your bets, which you can spend on team swag from Fanatics or use to place more bets.
• BETS & BOOSTS: Fanatics offers generous odds boosts, Same Game Parlays, trending bets and more. 

FANDUEL
FanDuel was long known for its Daily Fantasy games, but is now a major player in sports betting with a wide variety of markets, sports and leagues so there are more ways to win.

• WHAT TO KNOW: FanDuel claims to be “America’s #1 sportsbook” and offers a large menu of bet types.
• BETS & BOOSTS: FanDuel promotions include odds boosts, parlay insurance, big win bonuses and more.

DRAFTKINGS
Also with roots in Daily Fantasy Sports, DraftKings has emerged to be another popular sportsbook that gives you more ways to “have skin in the game” and get closer to the games you love.

• WHAT TO KNOW: DraftKings has thousands of ways to bet on sports, including pick’em and props pools.
• BETS & BOOSTS: the DraftKings wagering menu includes live/in-game bets, cross-sports parlays, moneylines and more.

BETMGM
Long known for its resorts and casinos, BetMGM also offers a mobile sportsbook app for all your favorite sports betting games, including all major and professional sports.

• WHAT TO KNOW: BetMGM touts itself as “the king of parlays” as it has extensive options for that bet type.
• BETS & BOOSTS: the BetMGM app features boosted bets, in-game betting, Same Game Parlays and more.

CAESARS
Another well-known brick-and-mortar brand with glitzy properties from Atlantic City to Las Vegas, the Caesars Sportsbook app offers hundreds of ways to wager.

• WHAT TO KNOW: in addition to sports, the Caesars app also offers casino games.
• BETS & BOOSTS: Caesars Sportsbook offers odds boosts, parlays, Same Game Parlays and Quick Picks.

BET365
Well-known for sports betting in the UK, bet365 has made its entrance into the US with a sports betting app that offers a wide range of sports and bets in select states. 

• WHAT TO KNOW: the bet365 app has a personalized display to help easily navigate to sports you bet on.
• BETS & BOOSTS: bet on a wide range of in-play and pre-match sports including football, baseball, basketball and more.

How do I choose the best Kentucky sportsbook?

• BONUSES: Sportsbooks often offer generous promotions and bonuses, especially for new customers. You should review the best sports betting promo codes and offers before choosing your sportsbook.
• REWARDS: Some sportsbooks offer cash back or other rewards based on your betting activity. For example, Fanatics offers up to 5% FanCash on every bet, which you can use to for more bets or team gear from Fanatics.
• ODDS: Every sportsbook sets its own line on each market, so it is important to find the best odds in order to maximize your return when you win. Many bettors use multiple sportsbooks to “shop” for lines and there are sites that allow you to compare odds from multiple sportsbooks.
• MARKETS: Each sportsbook will allow you to bet on different games and events (“markets”) in different ways. In addition to common bets like spread, total and moneyline, you’ll want an app with same game parlays, props, futures and other fun bet types.

What to Know: Kentucky Sports Betting Sites 

1. Fanatics Sportsbook: In addition to offering standard markets and unique sign up bonuses, Fanatics offers customers the ability to earn FanCash by placing sports bets. FanCash is earned at the rate of 1% on Straight Bets, 3% on Parlay Bets, and 5% on Same Game Parlays. It can be redeemed for sports betting bonuses or for the purchase of sports merchandise on their sister site, Fanatics.com. The Discover page on Fanatics Sportsbook offers marquee games, trending bets, promos, and rewards all in once place as compared to numerous places throughout the website / app. 

2. DraftKings Sportsbook: DraftKings offers a variety of betting markets and its rewards program caters especially to those who are daily fantasy sports players. Rewards points are earned for most wagers and can be redeemed for free bets, merchandise, or DFS entries in any sport DraftKings offers. New customers can bet $5 and receive $200 in free bets with their current promotion. The sportsbook is also known for its frequent and generous profit boosts that customers can used on specific bet types, including Same Game Parlays.

3. FanDuel Sportsbook: FanDuel offers a complex wagering menu similar to its chief competitor, DraftKings. Live betting markets and SGPs are often enhanced with specific profit boosts on the site and the interface is one of the cleanest and easiest to use among the offerings. Unlike its competitors though, FanDuel does not offer a rewards program for its customers at this time.

4. BetMGM Sportsbook: The signup offer at BetMGM caters more to larger players, a $1500 risk free offer which will credit a customer with bonus bets in the event their first real money wager loses. The boosts and risk free offers on the site cater to smaller players as the limits for those tokens are generally less than the other sites. With a friendly interface and a rewards program that can be redeemed for bonus bets or MGM Resort credit, this sportsbook is one of the best in the business for a reason.

5. Caesars Sportsbook: Similar to MGM, the rewards program is what Caesars is most known for in that customers can redeem their wagering credits for use at Caesars properties. New customers can get up to $1000 in bonus bets if they lose their first bet. The sportsbook offers an extensive betting menu and specializes in specific boosts related to your home state teams.

6. Bet365 Sportsbook: One of the largest betting operators in Europe that is rolling out in selected states to gain market share in the U.S. Their signup offer of bet $1, get $365 might be the most generous of any competitor in the space. While the SGP offerings aren’t as extensive as other sportsbooks, the wagering menu, specifically rare leagues and sports are covered by Bet365.

Kentucky Sports Betting History

Kentucky has always been the thoroughbred horse betting capital of the U.S., but as of the fall of 2023, it added sports betting to its wagering menu. On March 31, 2023, Kentucky became the 34th state to legalize sports betting and the 25th with online/mobile access. Retail locations opened on September 7 and Kentucky online sports betting became legal on September 28. 

The betting menu for Kentuckians is exhaustive in that they are able to legally wager on all major professional, collegiate and international sports, unlike other sports betting states. With excitement building among customers in the state for Kentucky sports gambling, it’s feasible that Kentucky generates over $1 billion in Kentucky sports betting handle by the end of 2023.

Kentucky Sportsbook Apps to Know

Sportsbook	Platforms	App Features*
Fanatics	iOS and Android apps	FanCash Rewards, bettable search, Discover page, cash outs, easy sign up, secure deposit, Withdrawal Tracker
FanDuel	iOS and Android apps, desktop and mobile web	Quick bets, secure deposits, horse racing, casino, cash outs, fast payouts
DraftKings	iOS and Android apps, desktop and mobile web	Casino, fast withdrawals, secure deposits
BetMGM	iOS and Android apps, desktop and mobile web	Easy deposits and withdrawals, 24/7 access, safe and secure transactions
Caesars	iOS and Android apps, desktop and mobile web	Caesars Rewards, casino, Quick Picks
Bet365	iOS and Android apps, desktop and mobile web	Cash outs, personalized display, alerts, edit bets, My Teams, search, sports stats

Sports Betting on Kentucky (and Nearby) Teams

Kentucky Wildcats: One of the most iconic college basketball programs in the nation, the Kentucky Wildcats should be an extremely popular betting option for Bluegrass State residents. The eight-time national champions have been led by legendary coach John Calipari since 2010 and they have appeared in four Final Fours during his tenure, recording a national title in 2012. The program’s 2,021-637 all-time record is the best in college basketball history. Though best known for its basketball prowess, Kentucky has also found more success on the gridiron in recent years in the SEC, including a dozen bowl appearances since 2006. 

Louisville Cardinals: The Wildcats have the historic edge, but Louisville basketball won the more recent national title, cutting down the nets in 2013. They’ve been to 10 Final Fours and own the 12th-best record (1,726-874) in college basketball history. Louisville has also become a bigger name in the college football world in the past couple decades. Well known for 2013 Heisman winner Lamar Jackson, Louisville transitioned to the ACC in 2014 and the Cardinals have finished in the AP Top 25 seven times since 2004.

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers: Though they don’t have the widespread following of UK or Louisville, the Hilltoppers have a nice fanbase in the southern portion of the state and they have the overall athletic success to demand attention in the betting market. A longtime Division I-AA (now known as FCS) power, WKU fully transitioned to the FBS level in 2009 and they’ve had nine winning seasons since that point. In men’s basketball, WKU has made the NCAA Tournament 23 times and its 1,622-720 all-time mark ranks 14th in history, just a couple spots behind Louisville. 

Cincinnati Bengals: With no “Big Four” professional sports teams playing within state lines, many Kentucky residents look just north of the state’s border to cheer on the neighboring Cincinnati Bengals. A franchise long known for its futility in the early days of existence became more of a contender under Marvin Lewis with seven playoff appearances between 2005-15. The franchise got another jolt more recently with stars such as Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase leading Cincinnati to a Super Bowl appearance in 2021 and an AFC title game appearance in 2022. The Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans are also NFL franchises located within short drives of portions of Kentucky. 

Cincinnati Reds: The state’s MLB allegiances are a bit more split with the St. Louis Cardinals also drawing a big following, particularly in the western portion of the state, but the Reds are largely considered the most popular team for Kentucky residents. The Reds won modern-era titles in 1975, 1976 and 1990, but haven’t advanced past the NLCS since that point. They’ve largely struggled in recent years, but the 2023 team has pushed for a playoff spot all season, just in time to draw the attention of new Kentucky sports bettors. 

Top Kentucky betting terms for new bettors 

Against the spread: Instead of betting on an exact winner, the widely-popular spread bet levels the playing field by allowing you to wager on how many points a team will win by. In basketball, if Kentucky is the 7.5-point favorite against Louisville then Kentucky can cover the spread if it wins by 8 or more points. However, Louisville as the 7.5-point underdog can cover the spread by winning outright or losing by 7 or fewer points.

Money line: Think of this as an elevated outright bet, with odds adjusted to reflect a favored team and an underdog. If Kentucky is listed as a -200 favorite against Florida, you’d need to bet $200 to return $100 on Kentucky to win. That means that Florida as the +200 underdog would return $200 on a $100 bet if that team wins.

Outright bet: This is the easiest wager that can be placed, and it’s perfect for betting on one of Kentucky’s biggest sporting events: Horse racing. With an outright bet, bettors choose one athlete — or thoroughbred — to win an entire sporting event.

Over/Under: If team sports is more your thing, placing an Over/Under bet is the way to go. Kentucky sportsbooks will post an estimated total of both team’s final scores in a game, and you wager on whether the actual final will be higher or lower than the estimate. So if the If the Over/Under for a Kentucky vs. Louisville basketball game is 125.5, you would wager on the final total being Over 126 or Under 125.

Player prop: Kentucky is one of the 18 states that allows you to place prop bets on collegiate athletes. Sportsbooks will project what a player’s stat will be at the end of a game, and you will wager whether the player will end that game over or under that projection. Popular player props include how many touchdown passes a quarterback will throw or how many three-point shots a basketball player will hit.

Underdog: The underdog is the team deemed less likely to win the game based on the odds. A bet on an underdog typically yields a larger return than a bet on the favorite.

Favorite: On the other hand, a favorite is the team that is deemed more likely to win the game. Bettors often pay a premium for betting on a favorite but they’re also the team that more often wins the game outright.

Consensus odds: These odds are generally defined as an average of all available betting markets. Different sportsbooks may price markets variably based on the action they’ve taken or their own interpretation of information.

Futures: While money line, against the spread and over/under bets are all single-game bets, futures markets encompass almost anything that falls outside of that spectrum. Futures bets include total regular-season wins, championship odds, MVP odds and more.

Parlay: This popular betting style is a little more complex. A parlay requires you to include two or more bets within a single wager, and all of your bets must win for the parlay to be a winner. For example, if you wager $100 on a three-leg parlay at 6 to 1 odds, you could win $600 if all three legs of the bet are winners.

Juice: Also known as “The Vig” or vigorish, juice is effectively the tax that oddsmakers charge for handling a wager. If a book determines a game is a virtual coinflip, they may price both options at -110 to give themselves a 10% rake on all the action.

Push: A push is a bet where neither the bettor or the sportsbook wins. If an over/under for total points in a football game is set at 44 and both teams combine to score exactly 44 points, the result is a push and the principle is returned to the bettor.

Live/in-game betting: Many sportsbooks now offer live/in-game wagering that allows you to make bets on several different markets in real-time. In basketball, you can bet on the outcome of a quarter, individual statistics and live-updated spreads/totals.

You can bet on sports in states like Ohio, New York, and Arizona.