Kansas lawmakers grappling with specifics of legalising sports betting

Kansas legislators looking to legalise betting on sports events and permit online lottery sales are struggling to reach agreement on the details.

On Wednesday, the Senate voted 23-15 approving a sports gambling bill within a month of the Kansas City Chiefs’ win in professional football’s Super Bowl, which highlighted how many Kansas fans placed wagers on the team illegally or out of state. A 4-hour debate preceded the approval and the bill was passed to the House, where a committee is working on its own legislation that is expected to be significantly different.

The Senate’s bill allows people to place wagers on sports events through 4 state-owned casinos managed by private companies via contracts with the Kansas Lottery – the casino companies could take bets through computer or mobile apps. The legislation would also allow limited state lottery ticket sales online.

Senate Vice President Jeff Longbine said, “It certainly put us in a position where we can establish sports gaming in Kansas and pull, hopefully pull, wagers from a black market, offshore, unregulated, untaxed market and bring it into Kansas under a regulated, safe market.”

The House committee plans to hold hearings on its rival proposal next month.

Chairman John Barker, a House Republican from a central Kansas, said, “We thought we would spread it out. You could be able to go down and buy a lottery ticket and bet on the K-State-KU game, hopefully buy a loaf of bread and 10 gallons of gas or whatever and go home.”

The revival of long-closed dog and horse racing tracks is also being debated. State law allows slot machines at the tracks, but critics say the state’s high take makes them unprofitable. The Senate voted 18-17 opposing reduction of the tax rate for a dog and horse racing park in Kansas City, Kansas.

Senate Democrats objected that their chamber’s bill gave too much control over sports gambling to companies managing the state’s casinos by not requiring separate sports-betting contracts with the lottery and letting the casino managers select the computer or mobile apps providers.

A few critics were also infuriated because of restrictions the bill would place on online lottery ticket sales, given that almost a dozen other states allow some form of online lottery sales.

The bill does not allow Kansas Lottery to use any sound or visual effects to simulate a slot machine, let someone play more than 1 game at a time or decide a winner in less than 4 minutes. The lottery estimates a sales boost of $3 million a year under the bill but could be as high as $26 million if the provisions were less restrictive.

Senator Tom Holland, a Democrat from northeast Kansas, called the bill a “sucker bet” for the state when it’s likely to see more gambling addicts and other challenges from increased gambling.

“If Kansas is going to extend its gaming products, then that extension needs to be profitable for the state,” Holland said explaining his “no” vote.