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Kansas Sports Betting

Kansas sports betting is live and off to a hot start with six online sportsbooks now available in the state. FanDuel, Caesars, BetMGM and DraftKings are among the sports betting sites now active in Kansas since launching in September 2022.

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There could be as many as 12 sports betting apps operating in Kansas down the road, and retail sportsbooks are now open at some casinos in the state.

Read on for all the latest news and information on the quickly changing Kansas sports betting market.

Written by

Bart Shirley

Last updated:

Fact checked by

Dustin Gouker

Best Kansas sports betting sites 2023

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What’s happening in Kansas sports betting right now

Is sports betting legal in Kansas?

Sports betting is legal in Kansas, with a soft launch occurring on Sept. 1. Six sports betting apps were approved alongside retail sportsbooks at Kansas casinos. The state’s four casinos can operate retail sportsbooks and partner with up to three online sites.

Comparing Kansas online sportsbooks

Kansas sports betting law includes up to three online skins for each of the four casinos in the state. On Sept. 1, six online sportsbooks went live including FanDuel and DraftKings, all of which offer top sports betting promos. We will keep track of new sportsbooks as partnerships are announced and apps become available for play in the state.

Kansas CasinoCasino OperatorRetail SportsbookOnline Sportsbook #1Online Sportsbook #2Online Sportsbook #3
Hollywood Casino at Kansas SpeedwayPenn National GamingBarstoolBarstool (live)——
Kansas Star CasinoBoyd GamingFanDuelFanDuel (live)——
Boot Hill Casino & ResortBoot Hill GamingDraftKingsDraftKings (live)Bally Bet—
Kansas Crossing Casino & HotelPeninsula Pacific EntCaesarsBetMGM (live)Caesars (live)PointsBet (live)

Here is a closer look at the top sportsbook apps available in Kansas:

1. DraftKings Sportsbook

DraftKings Sportsbook is live and available for play in Kansas. DraftKings thrives on innovation and has an app that works smoothly and gets top marks from users. One of the features on the app, the stats hub, is a unique tool that allows you to research both the hard data on each team’s past performances on the field and how the team performed against the spread, within moneylines, and other common wagers. DraftKings offers betting pools, too, but the one drawback might be with its promotions for existing users, which tend to be few and far between. DraftKings is also planning to operate the retail sportsbook at Boot Hill Casino.

2. BetMGM Sportsbook

BetMGM Sportsbook is legal and available for online bets in Kansas via a partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino. BetMGM offers the opportunity to take advantage of exceptionally competitive pre-game and in-game betting odds. BetMGM customers can also earn points and tier credits through the larger MGM loyalty program, MLife. While BetMGM’s core app functionality is above average, it lags behind in other areas sometimes like navigation.

3. FanDuel Sportsbook

FanDuel Sportsbook is live and available in Kansas. The FanDuel app is perhaps the easiest to navigate and use of any major online sportsbook in the country. Visitors to the FanDuel Sportsbook app will also note the presence of many opportunities for same-game parlays, a relatively rare type of wager in the US until FanDuel started offering them. FanDuel is also slated to serve as the face of the retail sportsbook at Kansas Star Casino.

4. Caesars Sportsbook

Caesars Sportsbook is live in Kansas, thanks to a deal with the Kansas Crossing Casino & Hotel. Caesars Sportsbook stands out for one simple reason — its bonus and promotional offers. There is likely no other sportsbook in the country that offers bonuses nearly as often as Caesars. Caesars also has plenty of odds boosts available on any given day. The website and app are simplistic and perhaps lacking in a few innovative features, but it gets the job done with few quirks or hiccups.

Full list of Kansas sports betting apps

Though there are six legal apps active in Kansas right now, there could be as many as 12 in the future. Below is a list of all of the current apps, and we will continue to add to the list as new operators pop up:

The road to legal sports betting in Kansas

A Kansas House committee started work on HB2470 in March 2022, nearly a year after a bill to allow sports betting in Kansas passed the Senate in 2021. The House inserted the language from HB2470 into SB 84 and advanced it. The two chambers then worked out their differences in a conference committee.

The House passed the deal before adjourning for a three-week veto break, but the Senate did not. The chamber voted on the issue when it returned later in April, first rejecting a deal before agreeing to an adjusted one. A late-night session resulted in a 21-13 vote in favor of SB84. The bill received Gov. Laura Kelly’s signature in May 2022 and became effective as law on July 1, 2022. A soft launch is set for Sept. 1.

The bill legalizes retail and mobile sports betting through the state’s four casinos. In addition, the bill calls for the following:

Most popular sports to bet on in Kansas

Although Kansas does not host any major professional sports teams from the four biggest leagues, it is home to an MLS squad. In addition, there are teams in adjacent states that hold Kansan loyalties and several in-state colleges with rabid fanbases. Here are some potentially popular betting options:

NCAA

No college team in Kansas holds more sway than the Kansas Jayhawks. KU is a perennial power in basketball and has fielded strong teams in many other sports. Kansans who don’t care for the Jayhawks might pull for the Kansas State Wildcats. Kansas is also home to the Wichita State Shockers, who have had moderate success in the March Madness and are always a dangerous mid-major for power conference teams to play.

NFL

Even though the Kansas City Chiefs call the Missouri side of the border home, the Chiefs are a fan favorite in the Sunflower State. Chiefs games routinely air across the state, and the team’s recent success has only increased local interest. Elsewhere in Kansas, you might find supporters of the Denver Broncos and Dallas Cowboys. Regardless of whether an NFL team ever moves to Kansas, NFL betting would likely be one of the most popular sports betting options in the state if it becomes legal.

NBA

Kansas residents have dealt with the departures of several NBA teams from nearby Missouri over the years. Most recently, the Kansas City Kings left for Sacramento in the 1980s, leaving Kansans without many options for NBA loyalties. For residents who still want a team, most tend to throw their loyalties south to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Unfortunately, the Thunder haven’t done much of note in recent seasons. It’s also possible that Kansas is home to a number of Philadelphia 76ers fans, as the most famous Jayhawk in the league, Joel Embiid, plays there.

MLB

The most obvious team to hold the hearts of Kansas baseball fans is the Kansas City Royals. The Royals, like their NFL counterparts, call Missouri home but are an obvious proxy for Kansans. A World Series victory within the past decade has no doubt bolstered the ranks of their followers.

MLS

The only major sports team in Kansas proper is Major League Soccer’s Sporting City KC. The team plays its games at Children’s Mercy Park, which could become a venue for a sportsbook sometime in the future, depending on Kansas legislation. Sporting City KC, formerly known as the Kansas City Wiz, has two MLS Cup victories in its history. However, Kansas sports betting will be launching in time to offer FIFA 2022 World Cup Odds.

Motorsports

Because Kansas Speedway plays host to two annual NASCAR Cup Series races and several other NASCAR events each year, it is undoubtedly a big draw for the people of Kansas. In particular, the Hollywood Casino 400 is one of 10 NASCAR events that serve as playoff races for the main season. So if sports betting launches in Kansas, there will likely be plenty of wagering on the outcomes at the 1.5-mile track.

Legal gambling options in Kansas

While Kansas is not particularly well-known for its gambling options, there are several outlets for Kansas residents to place a bet. The primary venues for gambling in Kansas are the 10 casino locations.

Six of these casinos are tribal locations under the ownership of federally recognized Native American tribes that reside in Kansas. The other four casinos are commercial properties. One of the commercial casinos is state-owned, a rarity in the United States, and all of the games on site are managed by the Kansas Lottery. The Kansas Expanded Lottery Act of 2007 authorized the four casinos to be located in different areas of the state. Kansans can gamble at the following places:

The other main outlet for Kansans is the Kansas Lottery. The lottery offers the standard scratch-off tickets and draw options that you can find in many other states. Major multi-state drawings like Mega Millions and Powerball are available at any Kansas Lottery retailer.

In addition, the Kansas Lottery offers several games through its retail outlets, such as keno, the keno-like Racetrax and the Millionaire Raffle. Although the lottery has an information app, there is no way to purchase Kansas Lottery tickets online.

There are illegal offshore websites that offer sports betting in Kansas. They do not hold a license from any US jurisdiction to legally accept bets from residents. Without regulation from the state, these offshore betting sites are under no obligation to pay out winnings or refund deposits if they cease operations or change their names. The only safe and protected way to bet on sports in the United States is to do so with a licensed sportsbook.

Can you play daily fantasy sports in Kansas?

Yes. Daily fantasy sports contests are legal in Kansas. In fact, they have been legal and regulated as valid activities in the Sunflower State since 2015. Then-Gov. Sam Brownback signed off on HB 2155 after it passed both chambers of the Kansas Legislature. The bill also increased options for playing bingo, lottery games, and raffles in Kansas.

Is horse betting legal in Kansas?

Betting on horse races is legal in Kansas, although there are no tracks currently operating in the state. Horse betting is only available online via options like TVG, BetAmerica and TwinSpires.

However, live horse racing has not taken place in the state since 2008. In 1987, following voter approval of a constitutional amendment, the Kansas Legislature legalized horse and greyhound racing with the Kansas Parimutuel Racing Act. The hub of greyhound breeding in the US is in Abilene, Kansas.

The three horse racing tracks and one greyhound track that operated in the state closed shortly after Kansas legalized casino gambling with the Kansas Expanded Lottery Act of 2007. That act also permitted racetracks to offer slot machines, but at a 40% tax compared to the 22% tax the casinos would pay.

There are discussions that the tracks could reopen if they could offer sports betting on a level playing field with the casino tax rate on electronic gambling machines. However, an amendment to the 2020 Kansas sports betting bill on the Senate floor lowering the slot machine tax for racetracks to 22% failed by a narrow margin.

Kansas sports betting timeline

2022: Following several sessions in the House Federal and State Affairs Committee, the House inserts the language from a compromise bill, HB2470, into SB 84, which passed the Senate in 2021. While the base of the proposals are the same – conducting sports betting through up to three skins from the four casinos in the state – the House adds several other components.

The chambers came to an agreement, including the House addition of retail partnerships. The conference committee also agreed to a 10% tax on retail and mobile sports betting.

The House approved the deal before adjourning for a three-week veto break. The Senate did not advance the bill but took it up when it returned. A 21-13 vote sealed the deal on April 29, sending SB 84 to the governor, who signed it into law on May 12. The law went into effect July 1. On Aug. 18, a soft launch date was announced and was set for Sept. 1. The full launch commenced on Sept. 8 for the start of the NFL season. Six sports betting sites launched Sept. 1.

Two retail sportsbooks were also approved to open, while two others planned to launch soon after.

During the first day of Kansas sports betting, more than 16,000 Missourians attempted to bet with online KS sportsbooks, according to Geocomply data. Most of those, approximately 60%, were in Kansas City, Missouri.

The opening of the Kansas sports betting market helped mobile US sportsbook logins jump 71.5% year-over-year during the Week 1 NFL weekend. Kansas accounted for 3.5% of the 103.1 million logins tracked by GeoComply.

Kansas sportsbooks took $160 million in bets during its first month of sports betting. FanDuel and DraftKings took more than 70% of the handle.

2021: The Kansas Senate passed a bill, 26-12, in March 2021. That bill would expand the state lottery and allow each of the state’s four casinos to partner with three online brands.

The House voted against a substation for the Senate bill, 77-40. That vote effectively killed the chances of a 2021 sports betting legalization in Kansas.

The House bill included a lottery sportsbook partner, allowing for up to 1,200 retailers to take sports bets on lottery-approved machines. The states casinos were also allowed one sportsbook partner for online betting.

Another hurdle for Kansas sports betting in 2021: Gov. Laura Kelly previously was against sports betting bills, but could be amendable to more money flowing through the lottery.

2020: The Kansas Senate embraced a more industry-friendly path in 2020 and passed a bill that authorized sports betting at the four state-owned casinos with a tiered tax structure of 7.5% for wagers placed in person and 10% for wagers placed online.

A House hearing showed the Senate bill had universal support from the casinos but opposition from the non-operating racetracks, horse and greyhound industries in Kansas. There were also reports that Gov. Laura Kelly wouldn’t sign the Senate bill as passed.

There were big differences between the Senate bill and the House bill, which sought to allow sports wagering at up to 1,200 lottery retailers, double the tax rate and require the use of official league data.

It was already going to be a difficult path to iron out those differences, but any chance for the legislature to finish KS sports betting were upended by the coronavirus cutting the legislative session three weeks short.

2019: After getting out to an early start with action the previous year, Kansas sports betting seemed to be a good bet entering 2019.

However, the legislative effort never got off the ground as an agreement couldn’t be reached on who would run sports betting.

The Kansas Constitution specifies that the state must run any gambling. This is why the state owns the four casinos but partnered with gaming companies to operate and run them.

An effort for the lottery to run KS sports betting at a 50% tax rate drew opposition from the casino companies, killing the efforts.

2018: The Kansas legislature has been at it with sports betting legislation since before the US Supreme Court overturned PASPA in May 2018.

Back in 2018, Kansas was trying to be one of the first states out of the gate with sports betting.

The legislature held hearings on three bills, including one that would have authorized the Kansas Lottery to conduct wagering at lottery retailers and by contracting with gaming and horse racing facilities.

Kansas was one of the first states in which a sports betting integrity fee appeared in favor of the professional sports leagues.

Kansas sports betting FAQ

Who oversees sports betting in Kansas?

The Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission and the Kansas Lottery. As per SB 84, the lottery oversees sports betting regulation and the KRGC handles regulations on sports gambling advertisements.

What is the legal gambling age in Kansas?

You must be 21 or older for casinos and sports betting, and 18 or older for the lottery and online horse betting.

There are some sports betting websites that say they accept bets from the United States. Are those legal options?

No. No sportsbooks are licensed at the federal level, which means all US sportsbooks are licensed at the state level. Any website that accepts bets from anywhere in the US is operating offshore. It is not legal for those sites to accept bets from US citizens, and such sites offer no protection to those who bet there.