LEXINGTON, Ky. – Legislation that would allow Kentucky racetracks to offer betting on sports will likely be introduced during the legislature’s 30-day session in 2019, Kentucky’s Senate Majority Leader, Damon Thayer, a Republican, said at a sports-wagering conference on Thursday afternoon held at Keeneland Racecourse. Thayer, who held a variety of jobs in racing before being first elected to the state legislature in 2003, said that the bill would have a decent chance of passing should a bipartisan consensus agree to a bill that satisfies the concerns of conservative rural legislators. But another potential hurdle involves the state’s governor, Matt Bevin, a Tea Party Republican. Bevin has been generally opposed to expanded gambling in the state, but also has, in the past, deferred to party members on issues considered important to them, Thayer said. “I don’t think he will fight against it,” Thayer said. “But I don’t think he will bang the drum for it either.” Thayer’s comments on the potential for a sports betting deal in Kentucky were the most locally germane for the attendees of the Keeneland conference, which was announced two weeks ago by its sponsors, Blood-Horse Publications, which is owned by The Jockey Club, and Breeders’ Cup Ltd., two Lexington-based organizations. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal law that prohibited states from authorizing sports betting, leading to the authorization of the practice in a handful of states and a rush among gambling and gambling-related companies to position themselves in a way to benefit from the opening of sports betting markets across the U.S. (Last week, Daily Racing Form launched a weekly sports betting publication, DRF Sports Form.) So far, six states have joined Nevada in explicitly authorizing sports wagering since the Supreme Court decision in May, including racing states such as New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. But it is still unclear how much – or even if – racing itself will benefit from an expansion of the practice, which has led to a handful of recent conferences and panel discussions within the industry on the topic. The Keeneland conference touched on most of the familiar issues surrounding sports betting, including racing’s wish list for the practice. Various officials on the conference’s three panels said that racetracks would need to be tabbed by legislatures as legal locations for sports betting, while representatives sympathetic to horsemen said that revenue from the practice needs to flow to purses, along the same lines as existing subsidies from many casino operations in racing states. In Kentucky, Thayer said that sports betting legislation would need to include an unspecified “competitive” tax rate, referencing plans by neighboring states to also legalize the practice. But shortly after making that comment, Thayer said that the bill would also need to include guaranteed subsidies for horsemen, perhaps through the statutory imposition of a tax on winnings that would flow to the state’s existing Thoroughbred and Standarbred breeding funds, which award bonuses to Kentucky-bred horses finishing in the money in eligible races. Thayer also said that the authorization of sports betting on mobile devices would be a heavy lift for the state legislature considering that representatives of religious districts would be hard-pressed to justify the practice to their constituents. And he also said that he would stand in the way of any bill that does not do enough to satisfy racing’s concerns. “It’s not going to get past me if it doesn’t protect the horse racing industry,” Thayer told the audience. While states are currently devising and arguing over a variety of ways to regulate and tax sports wagering, the federal government is not likely to address the issue until at least 2019, according to Greg Means, a federal horse racing lobbyist, and it will do so only if “states aren’t doing a good job with it,” Means said. However, Means said that it is likely that several legislators will take a shot at federal legislation after the lame-duck sessions this year, which could lead to some unanticipated consequences for racing, especially considering racing’s current carve-outs in several federal laws prohibiting betting across state lines and gambling over the internet. “What I can tell you is that we will have a seat at that table,” Means said. “It will be a pretty big table, . . . but we will be there. And I think we have a pretty good idea of what our issues are and will be, and how we can pivot off of them.” Currently, the consensus in the racing industry is that racing has a chance to benefit from the legalization of sports wagering provided that racing signals occupy a spot alongside sports wagering options. John Hindman, the general counsel of FanDuel Group, which was recently formed by a merger with TVG’s parent company, said that TVG’s management is excited about the possibility of introducing racing to fantasy sports players, and it has started that process already by devising cross-marketing campaigns. Daily fantasy sports operations “have very established brands and they have very large customer bases,” Hindman said, stressing “very” in both cases, despite the relatively young age of daily fantasy sports offerings. Indeed, on Thursday, TVG announced that starting on Sept. 9, the first Sunday of the NFL season, the channel will show two hours of morning programming focused on sports betting.   Bill Knauf, the vice president of business operations for Monmouth Park, which was the first location in New Jersey to offer sports betting after the Supreme Court decision, said that nighttime simulcasting during the track’s meet this year was up 21 percent compared with last year. That was in large part because sports betting was now available this year alongside the simulcasts in its new bookmaking parlor, which is run by William Hill, the British bookmaking firm, Knauf said. Like many bookmaking managers who have worked in foreign markets, Dan Shapiro, the vice president of business strategy and business development for William Hill, said that racing has a chance to leverage sports betting provided racetracks can offer a broad menu of betting products. “You have to fight to get the licensing or the marketing arrangements that will allow you to succeed in this business,” Shapiro said.