A wide-ranging wagering bill that would legalize fixed-odds betting on horse racing in Kentucky sailed through the Kentucky House of Representatives March 19 on a 79-15 vote, with an amendment added that could affect the state's breeding industry. It now goes to the Kentucky Senate for consideration.
READ: Kentucky Bill Filed to Legalize Fixed-Odds Wagering
House Bill 904—titled the Wagering Consumer Protection Act—touches upon numerous aspects of the state's betting landscape, from fixed-odds horse racing wagers to fantasy contests and charitable gaming. The updated version of the bill that heads to the Senate includes two amendments, including one that would limit The Jockey Club, North America's breed registry, from imposing numerical limits on stallion books or declining to register foals based on how many mares were bred to a given sire—unless such restrictions are first approved unanimously by the International Stud Book Committee.
Further, the measure stipulates that any foal meeting existing registration criteria could not be denied entry if born in Kentucky, even if broader limits had been contemplated but not universally adopted internationally. The bill also requires any registrar to submit to Kentucky jurisdiction, strengthening the state's regulatory reach.
If the current registrar, in this case The Jockey Club, does not comply, the amendment stipulates that it shall be replaced by another at the selection of the state regulator, the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation.
The updated bill further provides for legal action if an unauthorized stallion cap is enforced, potentially allowing parties to recover three times the damages they incurred as a result of the cap.
This response by the Kentucky House mirrors legislation initiated in 2022 after The Jockey Club announced a 140-mare cap on North American stud books. Shortly thereafter, The Jockey Club rescinded the policy, and the legislation did not go forward.
The amendment's addition comes after Everett Dobson, chair of The Jockey Club, discussed March 4 during the National Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association Conference about desiring to meet with stud farms to revisit the issue of a potential cap on the number of mares that a stallion can breed in a season.
The Jockey Club previously cited declining diversity within the Thoroughbred gene pool as a basis for the limit, but some farms opposed the cap, including several—Spendthrift Farm, Ashford Stud, and Three Chimneys Farm—who joined in filing a lawsuit. They argued that a cap acted as an anti-competitive restraint that threatened to disrupt the free market.
According to The Jockey Club's 2025 Report of Mares Bred, 52 stallions exceeded the 140-mare threshold last year, some by only a limited number. Eleven stallions bred 200 mares or more.
While the breeding amendment has drawn significant attention to the bill, the bill's core remains anchored in its wagering components, which further address fantasy contests and prediction markets.
Rep. Matt Koch, a Republican from Paris, and Rep. Michael Meredith, a Republican from Oakland, are sponsors of HB 904, which creates a form of betting that sets the odds at the time a wager is placed, and those odds do not change.
Fixed-odds wagering on horse racing is legal in only a few states: New Jersey, Colorado, and West Virginia.
