Kentucky’s mobile sportsbooks launched on Sept. 28, and the seven live operators needed to know that bettors were within state borders. Enter online gambling geolocation service provider GeoComply. On Sept. 29, Bonus received this mesmerizing GeoComply time-lapse pin-drop map showing some of the 2,020,119 geolocation checks during Launch Day.
While it’s not quite ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response), good luck watching the GeoComply time-lapse pin-drop map only once. Each new viewing also reveals more profound insight into yesterday’s launch of online esports and sports betting.
Nearly 200,000 Kentucky online sports wagerers gambled on seven sportsbooks yesterday, GeoComply told Bonus today.
A GeoComply spokesman told Bonus today:
For comparison, this was nearly double the amount of transactions and accounts from Louisiana, a similarly sized state during this same 24-hour period.
Watching the video at the bottom of this story, it’s clear that most of the check-ins are in or near population centers – Louisville and Lexington, as well as Cincinnati suburbs like Park Hills.
Speaking of Cincinnati, the pin-drop map ironically shows several attempts by gamblers to log onto Kentucky online sportsbooks while inside Ohio. That’s ironic because a primary motivator for Kentucky to legalize sports betting on March 31 was that a GeoComply representative showed Kentucky lawmakers that Bluegrass State residents were driving to Cincinnati after legal Ohio sportsbooks launched on Jan. 1.
That representative, John A. Pappas, senior vice president of government and public affairs at GeoComply, suggested Kentucky launch legal sports betting and keep wagers within its borders.
That happened on Sept. 7, when Gov. Andy Beshear placed the first bet on Launch Day for retail sportsbooks.
Then it occurred again yesterday, when online betting began.
Now, Beshear estimates esports and sports betting will generate $23 million a year in tax revenue for Kentucky.
Kentucky Pin-Drop Map Shows Hours of Check-Ins
In the hours before 8:15 p.m. yesterday, when the Detroit Lions began their defeat of the Green Bay Packers, Kentucky online bettors checked in on Barstool Sportsbook, Bet365, BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings Sportsbook, Fanatics Sportsbook Kentucky, and FanDuel Sportsbook.
Pappas pointed out yesterday that check-ins don’t necessarily mean app users placed a bet. However, bets can’t be placed without check-ins.
A GeoComply spokesman commented to Bonus today:
Geolocation checks are recorded at various stages of a user engaging with a legal sportsbook including, registering an account, logging in, and placing a bet.
Meanwhile, Circa Sportsbook Kentucky will launch later this year. Its Illinois app soft-launched minutes ago. The official debut in the Land of Lincoln happens next week.
GeoComply Time-Lapse Pin-Drop Map
GeoComply’s map is surprisingly accurate because it even includes Kentucky Bend. As of 2020, nine Kentuckians lived in this peninsula town that juts into the Mississippi River.
Connected by land to Tennessee, Kentucky Tourism says the “30 square miles of land completely cut off from the rest of the state” is also called New Madrid Bend.
However, the GeoComply time-lapse pin-drop map below doesn’t show any of those residents checking into sportsbooks in the hours before the NFL game.
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