Legal sports betting in Kansas is making progress, but it won’t be ready for the NFL season opener in September.
Director of Wagering for the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission, Todd Allen, told local press that progress is being made, but the launch cannot be rushed to meet the proposed September launch.
“We had drafts for sports wagering regulations that went before our commission. Our commission passed those with a few amendments and we are working on getting those amendments incorporated into the regulations right now and this week we will send those off to the Attorney General’s office.”
Sports betting in Kansas will be available in state-operated casinos and through mobile apps. Allen noted that mobile apps will be geofenced so that users who cross the state line into Missouri will not be able to place bets through their mobile device.
“There are some geolocation things that are built into those applications that allow us to geo-fence off the state so if you step into Missouri, your application will just shut down and you won’t be able to make a sports wager.”
He went on to explain that the regulations that will be sent to the Attorney General’s Office for final approval are temporary in nature meaning that changes can still be made prior to and after the industry launch.
“With temporary regulations there is a few less steps in the process and it helps us to be able to expedite and be able to get those rules in place without having to go through a long process to get things started. That way we can also do permanent regulations at a later date.”
Kansas legalized sports betting when Governor Laura Kelly signed Senate Bill 84 into law on May 12th, 2022.
Image credit: Baishampayan Ghose / CC BY-SA 2.0
An experienced iGaming commentator and analyst based in New York City - Jenny reports on regulation and gambling industry news and events.