As Kentucky draws closer to its second anniversary of legalized wagering, the Bluegrass State’s sports betting market continues to show signs of growth. On Monday, Prime Sportsbook officially launched, making the commonwealth the third state where its app is available.
Prime enters Kentucky sports betting through a partnership with Churchill Downs. The Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corp. approved Prime’s application late last year, and its opening Monday allows it to be ready to welcome new customers ahead of the upcoming football season.
About Prime Sportsbook Kentucky
Prime is an all-comers sportsbook, meaning it aims to welcome recreational players who generally makes only small wagers on an occasional basis as well as more experienced and sharper bettors who might face limits on their wagers at other books.
The sportsbook also touts that its lines have reduced juice, which means bettors receive a better price for their wager. For example, Monday night’s game between the Los Angeles Dodgers (-149) and the Cincinnati Reds (+134) had a margin of 2.5% with Prime Kentucky Sportsbook. Other sportsbooks have holds of 4% or higher on their moneyline wagers.
Bettors can place wagers through apps available for Apple and Android devices or bet through Prime’s website. As of now, Prime accounts in New Jersey and Ohio do not transfer to Kentucky, though the company has a multi-state wallet in its plans.
Reasons For Kentucky Sportsbook Launch
Prime is already available in New Jersey and Ohio. Plannatech, which provides the platform for Prime, also operates in Arizona through Betcris. Those are three of the biggest sports betting states in the country; each has produced a handle of at least $2.4 billion through the first three months of 2025.
Kentucky sportsbook apps reported a handle of less than $800 million from January to March of this year, so the state iosn’t among the biggest markets. However, the state does offer a couple of big advantages for sportsbooks.
First is the low barrier to entry. Service providers, like Prime, pay $50,000 for an initial license, with the annual renewal fee set at $10,000. Kentucky’s 14.25% tax on operators’ adjusted revenues also ranks among the lowest of the 38 sports betting states.
The other is proximity, Plannatech CEO Adam Bjorn told BetKentucky.com on Monday.
“For me this was both (a) strategic and selfish move to push Prime Sports into this state,” Bjorn said. “Strategically, with seven bordering states, it gives Prime some opportunity to grab some nearby business as well as now having full coverage of Cincinnati on both sides of the river.”
Bjorn added he was attracted by some of Kentucky’s other assets, too.
“The opportunity to partner with Churchill Downs for market access and operating in the home of horse racing with a touch of bourbon, gives me plenty of reasons to spend some quality time in the state building relationships with sports bettors for many years to come,” he added.
First Bet On Prime Sportsbook
Prime gave me the opportunity to make the first bet on Monday afternoon. After careful consideration, I placed a $25 MLB betting wager on the Cincinnati Reds to win the National League pennant at odds of +5500.
I’ve been a Reds fan all my life, and it’s been a while since they have been successful. However, with one of the best starting rotations in the majors, I believe they can make a run in the playoffs if they can earn a wild card spot (going into play on July 28, they were just one game out of the final NL playoff spot).
The Reds odds for the World Series were +10000. It would be nice to see the team win a title 50 years after the Big Red Machine and 35 years after the Nasty Boys and the Wire-to-Wire Reds. But they need to add a bat or two by the trade deadline before I could entertain such a wager.
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USA Today Network photo by Michael Clevenger/Courier Journal
