Kansas Sports Betting Bill To Be Signed Within Next Week

• Governor Laura Kelly is expected to sign Senate Bill 84 this week to legalize sports betting.
• Once she signs the bill, a long process will take place before state-regulated sportsbooks are available.

Update 5/13/2022:

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed sports betting bill SB 84 into existence on Thursday. The wait is now on as Kansas begins the process of developing regulations for the online, mobile, and retail sportsbooks that will eventually launch in the state.

Original:

TOPEKA, Kan. – Kansas Governor Laura Kelly plans to sign Senate Bill 84 within the next week. The bill will bring state-regulated sports betting to Kansas.

What Is The Hold-Up?

Governor Kelly has no issues with SB 84, but she is holding out on signing it until after signing a bill that will get rid of Kansas’s food tax.

She was in Kansas City this morning at an event that was scheduled so that she would sign the food tax bill, so it remains to be seen why it would take so long to sign sports betting into existence.

The sports betting bill passed through the Kansas State Senate on April 29th, and has been sitting on Governor Kelly’s desk ever since.

How Long Until Sports Betting Is Up And Running In Kansas

Once Laura Kelly signs the bill, regulations still must be put in place before legal sports betting in Kansas is fully up and running. Those processes can take months, and sometimes even years.

When the regulations are eventually decided upon, prospective sportsbooks will have to submit applications and receive approval. SB 84 created the possibility of many different types of licenses, which may cause a large field of applications.

Different Sports Betting Licenses That Kansas Will Offer

• Four retail sportsbooks licenses are available for casinos.
• Those four casinos are then allowed to partner with 50 businesses/sports franchises to offer sports betting kiosks.
• All four casinos will also be given three online sportsbook licenses, with the possibility of a fourth if they’ve partnered with a sports franchise.

It may be a longer wait than some sports bettors in Kansas may be hoping for, but at least legal sports betting is on the horizon.

News tags: Governor Laura Kelly | Kansas | SB 84