When Kansas legalized sports betting back in 2022, Missouri was a big motivating factor.
- Kansas capitalized on Missouri’s delay in legalizing sports betting, drawing Missouri bettors and boosting revenue.
- Missouri’s launch is expected to slow Kansas’ growth and shift some bettors back across the border, just as Kansas faces major decisions about its sports betting scene.
- Kansas may gain from the return of live horse racing in 2026, but talk of a shift to one sportsbook could shrink the market.
The Sunflower State and the Show-Me State are neighbors, rivals, and co-parents of sorts to Kansas City.
So, more than three years ago, Kansas lawmakers passed sports betting-related legislation with Missouri at least partly in mind.
“I want to beat them,” one Kansas lawmaker reportedly said at the time.
Kansas sports betting has also funneled more than $26 million in tax revenue to a fund that aims to attract professional sports teams to the state - perhaps a team like the Missouri-based Kansas City Chiefs, paid for in part by betting that Missourians were doing with Kansas-based sportsbooks.
Kansas sportsbooks are going to lose business when Missouri launches legal wagering in Dec. However, state lawmakers were also warned yesterday that those losses could be greater with a higher tax rate or single-sportsbook model (à la Oregon):https://t.co/HmiM5u2zq9 @Covers
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) September 23, 2025
Missouri, meanwhile, ran into legislative roadblocks and was left behind. It was only last November that voters approved a Missouri sports betting framework, which will finally go live Monday.
On Dec. 1, then, we’ll begin to get a better idea of how much financial benefit Kansas has been getting from Missouri’s lack of legal sports betting. The Sunflower State’s sportsbooks could take a significant hit.
Two bet neighbors
Analysts at Deutsche Bank are forecasting that gross gaming revenue from sports betting in Kansas will continue to grow, but at a slower rate. Currently, the forecast calls for $288 million in GGR for 2025, up 32.9% compared to 2024.
However, in 2026 and 2027, the estimate is for $319.7 million and $335.7 million in Kansas sports betting GGR, year-over-year increases of 11% and 5%, respectively.
Missouri, meanwhile, is projected to produce $432.9 million in sports betting-related GGR in 2026, and then $497.8 million in 2027, a 15% year-over-year increase.
Stephen Durrell, executive director of the Kansas Lottery, said in September that “population centers” drive the majority of betting, such as the action in the northeastern and south-central parts of Kansas. The northeast is where Kansas City is located.
“We do get a significant number of folks that come over from ... the Missouri side and place wagers,” Durrell said. “And that will continue until we hit when Missouri goes online with their sports wagering.”
So the Missouri sports betting launch could cost Kansas some money. That hit comes as Kansas lawmakers and regulators ponder and plan the future of legalized gambling in their state.
“We have the room, we have the agriculture needs. There is room for racing to grow in the Midwest.”
— TDN (@theTDN) November 25, 2025
@GovLauraKelly signed a law allowing for 1000 Historical Horse Racing machines, reviving Thoroughbred racing in Kansas after 17 years. @BillFinley3 https://t.co/25pcAH9pF1
One boon for Kansas could be the reported return of live thoroughbred horse racing to the state next year, something that has been absent since 2008. That racing renaissance will be supported by historical horse racing machines authorized in the same 2022 bill that authorized sports betting.
But a bigger, more ominous development is the freeze Kansas lawmakers put on the negotiations of any sports betting-related contract extensions earlier this year.
Durrell said in September that the lottery was approached by a sportsbook operator last year about extending their contract, but that the “proviso” was then passed, shutting down that sort of talk.
“At some point during the 2026 calendar year, we'll have to start having those discussions, just because all of (the contracts) are going to expire in (2027), dependent on legislative input or change to the way that the statute exists now,” Durrell said.
In other words, Kansas sports betting, as currently constructed, has an expiry date. Moreover, there is talk among lawmakers about pursuing a model different from what’s currently in place.
Enjoying Covers content? Add us as a preferred source on your Google account
Flying solo a no-no?
One proposal being kicked around is a single sportsbook contract with the lottery, such as what New Hampshire and Oregon did by partnering with DraftKings exclusively.
“Where the lottery … does a direct contract with a platform, we see tremendously increased revenues to the state,” Republican Rep. Francis Awerkamp said during the September meeting.
Moving from seven legal online sportsbooks to a single sports betting provider would be a big shake-up.
More than $7 billion has been bet under the current model in Kansas. How much would be bet under something different, particularly as there is now a federal version of sports betting available in all 50 states via prediction markets, is unknown.
Then there’s the matter of Missouri again.
If Kansas were to go to one sportsbook operator, many Kansas sports bettors could lose the betting app they’re currently using. The brand might then be available in Missouri.
You could have, in theory, the reverse of what’s been happening the past three years. Kansas sports bettors could be crossing the border into Missouri to place bets.
“From our perspective, you may actually shrink the market if you went down to one platform,” said Ryan Soultz, vice president of governmental affairs for Boyd Gaming, in September. “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?”
