Bettors wagered $240.5 million in May 2026, a 14.78% jump from a year earlier, according to state figures on Kentucky sports betting. But the growth in wagers didn't carry over to the bottom line, as sportsbooks kept roughly the same revenue they did in May 2025, thanks to a cooler hold rate. The numbers offer a clear look at how competitive Kentucky sports betting apps have become as the market matures.
Handle Up, Revenue Flat
Kentucky bettors wagered $240,541,177 in May 2026, up from $209,561,145 in May 2025. Online betting drove almost all of that growth, climbing to $237,159,877 from $205,007,688 a year earlier. Retail wagering, by contrast, shrank to $3,381,300 from $4,553,457. Kentucky sports betting apps cleaned house and made a profit.
But despite the surge in betting volume, gross gaming revenue barely moved, rising just 0.8% to $25,914,690 from $25,703,060 the year before. The gap between handle growth and revenue growth comes down to hold, the percentage of wagers that sportsbooks actually keep after paying out winners. Hold fell to 10.77% in May 2026, down from 12.27% in May 2025. That 1.5 percentage point drop absorbed nearly all of the extra money wagered, meaning bettors won back more of what they put in even as the overall market grew. State tax collections rose 4.1% to $3,668,245, tracking closer to revenue than to the much larger handle figure.
For a market still just two and a half years removed from its September 2023 launch, the numbers point to a state that hasn't leveled off yet. Older, more established sports betting markets have started to flatten in year-over-year comparisons. Kentucky has not.
Kentucky Sports Betting Apps Ranked by Handle
At the top of the market, Kentucky's results look like most other states. DraftKings led all online operators with $89.4 million in May handle, tied to its partnership with Cumberland Run. FanDuel followed at $75.9 million through Turfway Park. Together the two brands accounted for just under 70% of the state's total online handle, a duopoly seen across much of the country.
The bigger story is in third place. bet365, operating through Sandy's racing license, posted $24.8 million in handle, good for 10.5% of the online market. That put it clearly ahead of BetMGM ($16.3 million), Fanatics ($14.6 million), and Caesars ($11.2 million). In many states, bet365 competes for a mid-tier spot behind several national brands. In Kentucky, it has built a genuine hold on third, ahead of operators with larger footprints elsewhere. TheScore Bet, Circa, and Prime rounded out the field, combining for barely 2% of online handle.
Retail betting, while a smaller slice of the market, showed a different dynamic. Much of Kentucky's in-person wagering runs through Kambi, a platform provider that powers betting counters at Churchill Downs, Turfway Park, Ellis Park, and Oak Grove without its own consumer-facing brand.
With DraftKings and FanDuel holding the top two spots and the rest of the field still shifting, Kentucky's competitive order below the leaders remains unsettled. Combined with softening hold rates, the May figures suggest a market where operators are still fighting hard for market share rather than coasting on an established base.
