Advance-Deposit Account Wagering Tax Considered

• {Frankfort, Kentucky}...Wagers at tracks or off-track betting parlors in Kentucky are taxed, and a portion of those proceeds goes to the development fund, but account wagering, wagers made online or via telephone using advance deposits, is not taxed in Kentucky. During an interim State Government Committee meeting Wednesday, Committee Chairman Damon Thayer of Georgetown and Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark of Louisville said that they would like to see a bill passed next year to tax the growing advance-deposit account wagering segment of the declining pari-mutuel market. Clark said the goal is finding a rate that wouldn’t overtax the companies but would help the horse owners and tracks putting on the races. Thayer would like to see a tax on money bet through account wagering companies benefit the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund, which adds money to purses at Kentucky tracks for Kentucky-bred horses that finish well. A 2010 bill to tax it died.