Sports betting in Kansas is a signature away from become law after the Senate passed SB 84 to Gov. Laura Kelly early Friday morning.
The Senate approved the bill, 21-13 just a day after the chamber rejected House changes to it on Wednesday. The two sides met quickly Thursday morning, though, and the tweaked SB 84 cleared the House by mid-afternoon.
That means online Kansas sportsbooks should be available sometime next year as long as Kelly signs the bill as expected. That is also positive news for those who live in the other Kansas City, across the border in Missouri, since the Show-Me State’s own sports betting bill is running into issues.
What will Kansas sports betting look like?
There should be options for sports bettors in Kansas once the market goes live. There will be at least 12 mobile licenses with three for each of the state’s four casinos with a fourth skin available if a casino partners with a professional sports team.
Right now, though, there is only one pro team available in Kansas: Sporting KC of the MLS.
The casinos can also partner with up to 50 commercial partners to place retail betting kiosks, 20% of which have to be with fraternal or veterans’ organizations.
Not everyone loves KS sports betting bill
There were still plenty of opponents speaking up on the House and Senate floors even though both chambers had seen the bill already.
There were three common concerns:
- The 80% of taxes set aside to attract a pro sports team
- The low taxes generated. The state will tax sports betting revenue at 10%, which is forecasted to generate $10 million in taxes by year three.
- The increase of gambling addiction in Kansas
Erickson: ‘sports arenas are fairly expensive’
Sen. Renee Erickson asked what the benefit was to the citizens of Kansas and questioned the purpose of the funds:
“I don’t know, I’ve heard that sports arenas are fairly expensive. Even at the $10 million I don’t know how long it would take to accumulate enough in that fund at approximately $8 million a year to be able to build the stadium that we’re talking about. I don’t know that that’s a realistic number.”
Sen. Ron Olson mentioned there would be opportunity to pull the funds back if it they are not needed there.
