By Don Sergent, Bowling Green Daily News

FRANKLIN — Even after last year’s legalization of sports betting in Kentucky, the odds were high that those itching to gamble on college and professional sports in a plush, Las Vegas-like retail setting would have to leave the state.

Wanna bet?

Enhancing the mobile sports-betting app it launched last year, Circa Sports Kentucky on Monday unveiled a temporary retail sportsbook in a small space inside Franklin’s The Mint Gaming Hall at Kentucky Downs while outside work was underway on a permanent, 13,000-square-foot sports-betting destination that will mirror Circa’s massive Las Vegas sportsbook facility.

“Circa’s Las Vegas facility is considered the largest sportsbook in the country,” said Johan Mirkovic, vice president and general manager of The Mint at Kentucky Downs. “We will nearly replicate it here.”

Circa Sports Director of Operations Jeff Benson, on hand for Monday’s launch of the temporary facility, confirmed that the Franklin building will rival what his company has in Nevada.

“This will have 85 to 90% of the footprint of our Las Vegas location,” Benson said. “It will be a game-changer for people in Kentucky.”

The permanent sports gambling building will be attached to The Mint, which has grown in size thanks to the popularity of the slot machine-like historical horse racing machines that have fueled the growth in purses for Kentucky Downs live racing.

Mirkovic believes the partnership with Circa will further enhance Kentucky Downs and The Mint, owned since 2018 by a partnership headed by Ron Winchell of Lexington’s Winchell Thoroughbreds and former Nevada casino executive Marc Falcone.

“It will have 165 luxury seats, a restaurant, and a patio area that will overlook the race track,” Mirkovic said. “People will be able to bet on NFL, NBA, hockey, tennis – any sport that’s out there.”

Circa Sports is expanding into a fifth state and its first this far east, but Circa CEO Derek Stevens said The Mint’s track record doesn’t make this expansion much of a gamble.

“Launching a sportsbook in a new state is a significant milestone for any operator, and we couldn’t think of a better venue than The Mint Gaming Hall,” Stevens said in a news release. “Kentucky’s passion for sports makes it an ideal location.”

The Mint’s proximity to Tennessee and to Interstate 65 is another asset, according to Mirkovic.

“We draw the majority of our business from Tennessee,” he said. “Tennessee only has online sports betting. And we get business because we’re located on I-65. That brings in people from all over the country.”

The Mint’s venture into sports betting will also be aided by the rapid growth of gambling nationally.

According to American Gaming Association figures, Americans wagered $119.84 billion on sports betting in 2023, up 27.5% from 2022.

The AGA expects that growth to continue as more states take advantage of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 decriminalization of sports betting.

Growth, though, could come slowly at the Circa sportsbook in The Mint.

The temporary facility only has five kiosks, three betting windows, 10 televisions, and four odds boards, but Mirkovic and Benson said the much larger permanent sportsbook should be open in about 12 months.

In keeping with legislation passed last year, tax revenue from The Mint’s sports betting will benefit the state’s coffers in different ways.

The state expects to gain $23 million in annual revenue from all the state’s sports betting. Those dollars will go first to oversight of betting, then to a problem gaming assistance fund and finally to Kentucky’s pension fund.

There will be local benefits as well, Mirkovic says.

“We have 365 team members now,” he said. “This should add another 25 to 30.”

That added employment, along with the potential for more tourism, is welcomed by Simpson County Judge-Executive Mason Barnes.

“I’m sure it’ll bring more people into the community,” Barnes said, “and the occupational tax revenue will increase as they add jobs.”

Circa’s temporary sportsbook will be open daily from 9 a.m. until 11 p.m., according to a news release.