Kansas Sports Betting Growth Expected to Be Stunted by Missouri Launch

Kansas launched its sports betting industry in 2022, and it has benefited from Missourians crossing the border to make a wager due to the political gridlock that kept sports betting from being approved in the Show Me State. But with Missouri’s sports betting industry going live on December 1st, Kansas will likely suffer the consequences.

The Big Chill

Kansas’ sports betting industry could catch a cold with the advent of neighboring Missouri launching its own mobile sports betting industry on December 1st.

Kansas has been getting business from Missourians crossing state lines just to make a bet. But all those customers will likely dry up now that they can place a bet in the comfort of their own home rather than hit the highway and cross the border.

During the past three years, more than $26 million in tax revenue generated by sports betting has been directed to a fund aimed at attracting professional sports teams to the Sunflower State. And one of those teams happens to be the Kansas City Chiefs, but now that Missouri has gone live with its own sports betting industry, the chances of wooing the Chiefs or Major League Baseball’s Kansas City Royals appear to be waning.

Stephen Durrell, executive director of the Kansas Lottery, acknowledged Missouri is a revenue driver for his state’s mobile sports betting industry, stating, “We do get a significant number of folks that come over from … the Missouri side and place wagers. And that will continue until we hit when Missouri goes online with their sports wagering.”

Decisions, Decisions

Analysts at Deutsche Bank are forecasting $288 million in Kansas’ gross gaming revenue (GGR) for 2025, an increase of 32.9% compared to 2024.

However, with Missouri launching its own industry, growth in Kansas is expected to slow in 2026 and 2027, in which the estimates call for GGR of $319.7 million and $335.7 million, year-over-year increases of just 11% and 5%, respectively.

In addition to the unwanted competition from its neighbor, Kansas is also considering changing the blueprint of its sports betting industry. Instead of seven online sportsbooks paying a national low of 10% of their revenues, legislators are contemplating increasing their percentage in exchange for granting one sportsbook a monopoly in the state.

This proposal is a page ripped right out of New Hampshire’s book, which gave DraftKings statewide exclusivity in exchange for a whopping 51% share of their profits. However, the lack of choices could be detrimental to Kansas’s sports betting industry by driving some bettors to offshore sportsbooks, which pay no state taxes, or into the arms of local bookmakers.

Yet, some legislators, like Republican Representative Francis Awerkamp, have advocated for a sole sports betting platform, who stated at a meeting just a few months ago that, “Where the lottery … does a direct contract with a platform, we see tremendously increased revenues to the state.”

However, at the same meeting, Ryan Soultz, vice president of governmental affairs for Boyd Gaming, argued against one operator, stating, “From our perspective, you may actually shrink the market if you went down to one platform. Now, do you get a bigger percentage of revenue from that one operator? Sure. But does the market contract because people no longer have their favorite app to bet on?”