Although sports betting is legal in Kansas these days, the Sunflower State went through a long period where gambling of all kinds was completely outlawed.
Kansas was once part of the famous Wild West, where gambling played a huge role and also caused plenty of trouble in the saloons people would play in. Wyatt Earp lived in Dodge City for a time, so we really are talking the authentic Wild West here. Partly in reaction to the complete chaos that was going on during that time, it became illegal to gamble in Kansas at all.
They were trying to make the state safter and more lawful, and one by one, all forms of gambling became illegal by 1903. There were some very minor exceptions, but basically, until the 1970s, Kansas was a prohibition state.
In 1974 a constitutional amendment was introduced to allow charity bingo and raffles, and from there, the stance softened further to allow a state lottery, and even horse and dog racing. By the late 1980s, Kansas was in a similar position to most other states as far as gambling was controlled, and they even moved to allow four tribal gaming casinos in 1996 – the same year MLS began.
By 2007, Kansas wanted to expand gambling beyond the tribal casinos already operating in the state, but the constitution still wouldn’t allow privately owned commercial casinos. The workaround was the Kansas Expanded Lottery Act, which let the state create up to four state-owned casinos instead. It was a fiddly system but it worked.
Under this system, the Kansas Lottery legally owns the gaming operations and the equipment, but it doesn’t run the casinos itself. Instead, it signs long-term contracts with private operators to handle the day-to-day side of things. Those companies take a cut of the revenue, and the state takes its share through the Lottery and various fees. It’s a model that keeps the state firmly in control and ensures everything remains part of the Lottery, while still giving private operators enough room to make the casinos commercially viable.
Sports betting remained illegal throughout all of this. It wasn’t until the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 was repealed that this was able to change.
Legalizing Sports Betting Took Time
Once PASPA was repealed in 2018, Kansas was free to make its own decisions about sports betting. However, given the state’s prohibition style past, opinions on whether or not to go ahead were mixed.
There were not enough anti-gambling voices to stop things moving forward, however, but it still took more than 4 years of failed attempts and long conversations to get the legalisation of sports betting over the line. Why? Well, it was down to exactly how it would work from a regulatory and financial perspective. Law makers in both chambers agreed that sports betting should be legalized in principle, but they couldn’t decide on exactly how to do it.
It was essentially split like this:
- The House – Wanted a lottery led system with a state operated online sportsbook plus thousands of retail terminals at lottery retailers. High taxes to cover the risk landing squarely on the state’s shoulders.
- The Senate – Wanted a casino led system run through the four state owned casinos (which are run by private organisations). In this scenario, the casinos take the risk so betting tax could be low to attract more operators.
The existing casinos also worried that all those retail outlets would kill their trade, not to mention concerns about mobile operators flooding the market. Kansas’ unique casino ownership model also added to the confusion.
Eventually though, in 2022, a compromise was reached. Kansas State Lottery would officially own all sports betting, but the four state owned (but privately controlled) casinos would act as the Lottery’s partners and run the sportsbooks. In this way, the House got their wish because the Lottery kept ownership, but the Senate got the casino-led market structure it wanted. It was a very similar arrangement to the way the state run casinos were originally set up.
Each casino was allowed to partner with up to 3 different online bookmaking brands, but the Lottery would oversee and audit everything via the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission. This created a large enough online market to satisfy operators, but kept ultimate authority with the state. The first legal sports bet in Kansas was made on the 1st of September, 2022, at the Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway – spitting distance from Children’s Mercy Park, which two time MLS Cup winners, Sporting Kansas City, called home.
MLS Teams in Kansas
Since Kansas is home to one of the original Major League Soccer teams, Kansans have been interested in betting on MLS for decades. Most would probably be looking to wager on Sporting Kansas City, or Kansas City Wiz as the club were known originally.
That said, the club is located in Kansas City which sits on the state’s eastern border with Missouri, so it won’t feel very local for most of the Sunflower State’s 3 million inhabitants. Kansas is also one of the least densely populated states in the US, so most other towns and cities aren’t populous enough to support a club of the same stature, making Sporting KC the only realistic option for Kansans who are also MLS fans.
Soccer is a big sport in the state in general though, and it has been for some time. They even claim to be the Soccer Capital of the USA. Sporting Kansas City could make a claim for being the state’s biggest sports club since the Kansas City Chiefs, an American Football team, are actually based in Missouri. Plus, when you look deeper into the lower levels of the various sports, there are far more semi-prominent soccer teams than anything else.
The Kansas City Comets are a successful indoor soccer club, for example, while the Santa Fe Wanderers and Sunflower State FC both play in USL 2, and of course, there is Sporting Kansas City II in MLS Next Pro.
So for MLS action its Sporting KC all the way, but for soccer in general, Kansas has a lot to offer people who want to bet on soccer.