Kentucky bettors wagered $222.7 million on sports in June 2026, up 27% from a year earlier, buts sportsbooks kept only $25,914,690 of it, barely more than the $25.7 million they earned last June.

The reason the two figures moved apart is hold, which fell to 10.77% from 12.27%. The state collected $3,668,245 in tax. Online betting made up $237,159,877, or 98.59% of all wagers, spread across nine operator skins tied to the state’s racetracks. Figures come from Kentucky’s official sports wagering reports.

Kentucky’s headline is growth. A 14.78% jump in handle is the kind of number older markets stopped posting years ago, and online wagering alone climbed nearly 16% to $237.2 million. Yet almost none of it reached the revenue line. Sportsbooks earned less than 1% more than they did a year ago, because they held 1.5 fewer cents on every dollar wagered.

That is a good month for bettors and a middling one for operators. A lower hold means more money flowed back to customers, whether through favorable results, sharper competition, or heavier promotional play in a market still fighting for share. For the state, the split was closer to neutral: tax rose 4.1% to $3.67 million, tracking revenue rather than the far larger handle.