Closest Casino To Lexington Kentucky
- Casino Gambling: Not Legal
- Poker: Not Legal
- Horse Racing Betting: Legal
- Dog Racing Betting: Not Legal
- Lottery: Legal
- Daily Fantasy Sports: Not Specified
- Charitable Gaming: Legal
- Social Gambling: Legal
- Online Gambling: Not Specified
In most cases, Kentucky gambling law is strict. The state’s history as the epicenter of thoroughbred breeding and racing means that wagering on horse races is generally exempt from the tough anti-gaming laws in place in the Bluegrass State.
Directory and Interactive Maps of Casinos and other Gaming across the Nation including address, hours, phone numbers, and website. Locate Casinos and racetracks near Lexington Kentucky This guide lists the top casinos near Lexington, Kentucky. Also shown are the casino floor size in square feet and the miles from Lexington with drive time. The casino pages have pictures, gaming details for slots, baccarat, blackjack, poker, craps, roulette and other table games.
Kentucky allows its citizens a few traditional American ways to gamble. The state runs its own popular lottery system and Kentucky residents are allowed to buy tickets for multi-state drawings as well. Kentucky just moved to allow online lottery sales, which is seen as a huge step in the direction of expanded access to regulated gaming. Charitable games are provided for, and rules for private games make it clear what the state expects of citizens in private betting pools.
But the one thing that’s missing in Kentucky is legal access to traditional casino gambling. Kentucky residents have to travel to nearby states to get their fix of table games, slot machines, and other Vegas classics.
We look at existing Kentucky law and examine why the state is so dead-set against casino gambling, below.
Recent efforts to legalize casino gambling in Kentucky were met with consternation by the state’s highest house of Congress. That happened in both 2010 and 2012. Part of the reason for the state’s dragging its feet is the large amount of revenue they already earn from horse race betting. Check out some key facts about Kentucky’s gambling industry below.
- Age Requirements: 18 for horse race betting
- Approximate Annual Gambling Revenue: $839 million
- Approximate Annual Gambling Taxes: $310 million
- Number of Commercial Casinos: 0
- Number of Racinos: 0
- Number of Tribal Casinos: 0
- Casino Regulatory Body: Kentucky Horse Racing Authority
- Lottery National Rankings: 20th
You’ve got some knowledge about the state’s betting business under your belt. You’re ready to read our analysis of Kentucky’s notoriously-tough gambling laws. Pay close attention to the specific and at times archaic wording of the state’s restrictions on betting. As is often the case, Kentucky’s gaming laws depend on old interpretations and definitions, and should the state decide to relax existing betting laws, they’d also have to deal with existing language in the penal code that doesn’t jibe with the modern gambling industry.
Kentucky is not a gambling-friendly state by any means. Actually, it could have some of the strictest laws around gambling in the entire country.
That being said, Kentucky does have minimal options for those looking to press their luck, including the famously known Kentucky Derby.
Horse racing is legal in the Bluegrass State, as well as the state lottery.
Is online gambling in the future of Kentucky? And how did the state become so strict towards gambling in the first place? We break it down and more in our Kentucky gambling guide below.
Online Casinos in Kentucky
Although Kentucky has a long tradition with horse racing, it has not legalized casinos (online or otherwise).
There have been limited discussions of legalizing online casinos, but it seems unlikely that we'll see online casinos offered there in the foreseeable future.
Kentucky does have a state lottery, which can indicate an openness to other forms of betting.
The nearest online casinos will be in West Virginia, which has already approved legislation. Tennessee has recently approved online sports betting.
But, you can still register with a legal online casino while you're in Kentucky.
That means you can get the casino's bonus offers or deposit, and then play whenever you're in states where it's legal (even in a layover at the airport). (Do be aware of the casinobonus's expiry date, though.)
The only forms of legal online gambling in the state include the lottery and pari-mutuel betting.
Land-Based Casinos in Kentucky
The most common type of gambling offered is pari-mutuel betting on thoroughbred horse racing at the 10 racetracks located throughout the state.
The most famous horse race offered in the state is the Kentucky Derby, which has been run annually since 1875.
The Kentucky Derby is always run at Churchill Downs on the first Sunday in May.
A festival is also held each year for two weeks before the race in Louisville, where the track is located. Louisville is also the state's largest city.
There are three racetrack casinos in Kentucky that offer some form of casino gambling. There are no traditional slot machines in Kentucky casinos. Instead, they all offer instant racing bettingmachines.
While these machines may appear to be regular slot machines, they are actually gaming machines that are based on unidentified past horse races and the spinning reels shown on the machinesare for entertainment purposes only.
Those instant racing machines are the only types of casino gambling offered in Kentucky casinos. You will not find any table games offered at the casinos in Kentucky.
Types of Casinos in Kentucky
There are no traditional casinos in Kentucky.
Residents have numerous racetracks to choose from, as explained above.
List of Racetracks in Kentucky
Click on any of the race tracks below to learn more about them.
Derby City Gaming
- 4520 Poplar Level Rd, Louisville, KY 40213
- +1 502-961-7600
- Games: Instant racing betting machines
Ellis Park
- 3300 US-41, Henderson, KY 42420
- +1 812-425-1456
- Games: Instant racing betting machines
Kentucky Downs
- 5629 Nashville Rd, Franklin, KY 42134
- +1 270-586-7778
- Games: Instant racing betting machines
Red Mile
- 1200 Red Mile Rd, Lexington, KY 40504
- +1 859-255-0752
- Games: Instant racing betting machines
Churchill Downs
- 700 Central Ave, Louisville, KY 40208
- +1 502-636-4400
- Games: Instant racing betting machines
- Hosts the Kentucky Derby
Turfway Park
- 7500 Turfway Rd, Florence, KY 41042
- +1 859-371-0200
- Games: Instant racing betting machines
The Closest Casino To Lexington Kentucky
Keeneland
- 4201 Versailles Rd, Lexington, KY 40510
- +1 859-254-3412
- Games: Instant racing betting machines