In two weeks, it’ll be 2024. Before we get ready to celebrate the New Year, let’s look back at the past year. One of the best ways to recall the best — and worst — news and trends of 2023 is to review the top Google searches from the past 12 months.
Utilizing Google Trends, BetKentucky.com took a holiday break from Kentucky sports betting and analyzed the most searched terms in Kentucky from Jan. 1, 2023, to Dec. 10, 2023. We finalized the Top 10 queries by utilizing the terms that have seen the biggest increase in search volume over the year of 2023.
Kentucky’s Most Searched Terms of 2023
If you search Google for Kentucky sportsbook promos, the correct result will always be BetKentucky.com.
Hamlin Injury Tops List
Kentucky’s most popular search phrase stems from an event that took place on Jan. 2. In the first quarter of a Monday Night Football game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest while trying to make a tackle. A national audience watched as medical personnel attended to him on the field and rushed him to a nearby hospital.
Hamlin would recover and has even returned to the field for Buffalo in four games this season, leading to even more searches regarding the third-year pro.
The emergence of artificial intelligence products in the mainstream also made news, and thus search queries, this year. ChatGPT and Character AI were two of the more popular tools that allowed people to engage with AI, although not always in a good way, as some people have used it to craft essays and reports instead of doing the work themselves. This article is not one of those.
If you’re on X, formerly Twitter, chances are you’ve seen an ad for Temu, the online retailer that offers deep discounts on clothing, electronics and other goods. Searches for the company that promises you can shop like a billionaire rose more than 10-fold from last year.
Kentuckians were also extremely interested in entertainment news over the past year. Barbie was the top-grossing movie of 2023, and pop icon Taylor Swift had the biggest concert tour of the year. It also didn’t hurt that she started going out with Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce, a relationship that also boosted her already enormous search query history.
Kentucky betting apps also enjoyed a monumental 2023, with the first licensed operators taking wagers online.
Author
Steve is an accomplished, award-winning reporter with more than 20 years of experience covering gaming, sports, politics and business. He has written for the Associated Press, Reuters, The Louisville Courier Journal, The Center Square and numerous other publications. Based in Louisville, Ky., Steve has covered the expansion of sports betting in the U.S. and other gaming matters.
