Is sports betting legal in Kansas?
Yes. Online and retail sports betting has been legal in Kansas since September 1, 2022, under SB 84, which Gov. Laura Kelly signed on May 12, 2022. The Kansas Lottery legally owns and operates every sportsbook, the four state-owned casinos manage them, and the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission (KRGC) regulates them. You have to be 21, and you can bet on a phone anywhere in the state.
Where you can bet
Each of the four casino managers can run up to three online platforms, so the law allows 12. Seven operate, according to the Lottery's August 2026 revenue report: DraftKings through Boot Hill Casino in Dodge City; FanDuel and bet365 through Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane; theScore Bet through Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City; and BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook and Fanatics Sportsbook through Kansas Crossing Casino in Pittsburg. DraftKings settled $62.5 million of the $160.7 million in online wagers settled that month.
Each casino also has a retail sportsbook. The same report lists DraftKings at Boot Hill, FanDuel at Kansas Star, theScore at Hollywood and Caesars at Kansas Crossing.
College games are allowed, Kansas teams included. SB 84 defines a sporting event as any professional or collegiate sport, but it doesn't cover events where most participants are under 18. The state's share is 10% of sports wagering revenue, which is counted after prizes, promotional credits and federal excise tax. In fiscal 2026 the books settled $2.67 billion in wagers and kept $177.3 million in net revenue, and the state's share came to $17.7 million (unaudited Lottery figures).
How Kansas legalized sports betting
The state-owned lottery model (1861 to 2008)
Article 15, section 3 of the Kansas Constitution has said since 1861 that "lotteries and the sale of lottery tickets are forever prohibited." Voters carved out bingo in 1974. In the November 1986 election, 64% of them approved an amendment allowing parimutuel racing and a "state-owned and operated lottery."
The Kansas Expanded Lottery Act (KELA), passed as SB 66, took effect April 19, 2007. It created four gaming zones: Wyandotte County in the northeast, Crawford and Cherokee counties in the southeast, Sedgwick and Sumner counties in the south-central zone, and Ford County in the southwest. Each zone got one casino owned by the Lottery and run by a private manager under contract. The Kansas Supreme Court upheld that structure in 2008 (see the court cases below), and SB 84 later added sports wagering to it.
SB 84 and the September 2022 launch
The Senate passed a substitute version of SB 84, 26 to 12, on March 3, 2021. The House swapped in its own sports betting bill and passed that substitute 88 to 36 on March 30, 2022, and the final conference version cleared the House 73 to 49 and the Senate 21 to 13 at the end of April 2022. Kelly signed it on May 12, 2022, and it took effect July 1.
SB 84 amended KELA so the Lottery offers sports wagering through the casino managers, each allowed three online platforms and up to 50 marketing partners. It split the state's 10% share this way: the first $750,000 to the White Collar Crime Fund, then 2% to the Problem Gambling and Addictions Grant Fund, 80% to a new Attracting Professional Sports to Kansas Fund, and the other 18% to the State Gaming Revenues Fund. The same bill authorized historical horse racing machines in Sedgwick County and required the governor to negotiate sports wagering compacts with any tribe that asked.
Betting launched September 1, 2022. All four casinos had amended their management contracts by then to add sports wagering.
In 2023, Senate Substitute for HB 2058 let tribal compacts cover sports wagering off Indian lands; it took effect April 27, 2023. The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, and the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska amended their compacts to add sports wagering, and in 2026 the Legislature approved a new Wyandotte Nation compact that includes the same sports wagering terms. In March 2026 the Legislature passed SB 356, which ratified the KRGC's permanent sports wagering regulations, and Kelly signed it on April 9. A bill to add a 3% excise tax on every sports wager (HB 2791) died in committee on April 10, 2026.
The stadium fund and STAR bonds
The Attracting Professional Sports to Kansas Fund was written to pay bonds for a pro team's stadium. On June 18, 2024, in a one-day special session, the Legislature passed HB 2001 (House 84 to 38, Senate 27 to 8), and Kelly signed it on June 20. It lets sales tax and revenue (STAR) bonds cover up to 70% of an NFL or MLB stadium project costing at least $1 billion, for a team from a neighboring state, and lets the fund's money repay them.
On December 22, 2025, the Legislative Coordinating Council approved STAR bonds for the Kansas City Chiefs, and the state and team announced a $3 billion domed stadium in Wyandotte County set to open for the 2031 season, 60% publicly financed through the bonds and the sports fund. HB 2466, signed April 9, 2026, created a Kansas Sports Facilities Authority for the stadium and extended the STAR bond law's sunset to July 1, 2031. The fiscal 2027 budget (HB 2513) moves 25% of the sports fund's balance to the Home and Community Based Services Fund, for community crisis stabilization centers and the Clubhouse Model Program. An April 2026 Legislative Post Audit proposal, requested by Rep. Francis Awerkamp, would study how changing the revenue formula would affect the Chiefs bonds.
The 2027 contract expirations
The sports wagering contracts between the Lottery and the four casinos run through August 2027. The 2025 budget, SB 125, barred the Lottery from spending money to negotiate, extend or renew them in fiscal 2025 and 2026. The Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee tried to carry the ban into fiscal 2027, but Senate Ways and Means removed it and the final 2026 budget didn't include it. The fiscal 2026 ban ran out on June 30, 2026.
Boot Hill's manager, Butler National, signed a three-year renewal (effective August 17, 2026) that begins September 1, 2027 and keeps the 90% manager share. Boot Hill also extended its DraftKings deal for 10 years. We found no announced renewal for Kansas Star, Hollywood or Kansas Crossing as of September 27, 2026. SB 84's confidentiality provisions for certain information held by casino managers also expire July 1, 2027 unless the Legislature reenacts them.
Sports betting court cases in Kansas
State ex rel. Six v. Kansas Lottery (2007 to 2008)
Attorney General Stephen Six filed a quo warranto action in the Kansas Supreme Court on August 23, 2007, asking whether KELA's casinos were really "state-owned and operated." The court sent it to Shawnee County District Court, since KELA requires constitutional challenges to be filed there, and Judge Charles E. Andrews Jr. upheld the act on February 1, 2008. On June 27, 2008, the Kansas Supreme Court affirmed (No. 99,957, 286 Kan. 557, 186 P.3d 183). Justice Rosen's opinion held that KELA contains "sufficient indicia of state ownership and operation" to satisfy the constitution.
The Kansas Star Casino lawsuit (2022 to 2023)
The day Kelly signed SB 84, Boyd Gaming's Kansas Star Casino sued the state, the Lottery and the KRGC in Shawnee County District Court. It argued that SB 84's 1,000 historical horse racing machines at the old Wichita Greyhound Park breached the exclusivity clause in its management contract for the south-central zone, and it sought the contract's $25 million penalty plus interest. Judge Mary Christopher had dismissed the suit by February 28, 2023. Boyd's 10-K says the state and Boyd settled the claims in July 2023. The KRGC ruled Boyd ineligible for the machine permit that month because Kansas Star is in the same zone, and it awarded the permit to another applicant; that facility, Gilley's in Park City, opened December 15, 2025.
Prediction markets and the Tenth Circuit
We found no Kansas suit, cease-and-desist letter or subpoena against Kalshi, Polymarket, Crypto.com, Robinhood, Underdog or Novig, and no operator suit against Kansas. In April 2025, KRGC enforcement attorney James Bain told Sports Betting Dime the commission wasn't planning cease-and-desist letters and would watch the Nevada and New Jersey litigation.
Kansas is in the Tenth Circuit, and its pending case comes from Utah. In KalshiEX LLC v. Cox (D. Utah No. 2:26-cv-00151), Judge Robert J. Shelby granted Utah summary judgment on August 4, 2026, holding that the Commodity Exchange Act doesn't preempt Utah's gambling laws as applied to Kalshi. Kalshi appealed (No. 26-4100), and on September 8, 2026 Judges Hartz and Kelly denied an injunction pending appeal. There's no merits ruling yet, so no appellate preemption holding binds Kansas.
Outside the circuit, the Third Circuit ruled for Kalshi against New Jersey on April 6, 2026 (No. 25-1922), and New Jersey's certiorari petition is pending (No. 26-299), with Kalshi's response due November 9, 2026. The Ninth Circuit ruled against Kalshi in Nevada on August 28, 2026 (No. 25-7516), and the Sixth Circuit ruled against it in Ohio and Tennessee on September 25, 2026 (Nos. 26-3196 and 26-5235).
Prediction markets and daily fantasy
We found no Kansas statute or 2026 enactment aimed at prediction markets, and CBS Sports' tracker (as of September 24, 2026) lists all sports markets as available in the state. Attorney General Kris Kobach signed the March 10, 2026 amicus brief of Ohio, New Jersey and 37 other states backing Nevada in the Ninth Circuit, and on April 30, 2026 Kansas joined a coalition of attorneys general asking the CFTC to recognize state authority over sports event contracts. Novig, the trade name of Ludlow Exchange, LLC, which the CFTC designated a contract market on June 16, 2026, takes Kansas traders 21 and older with ID, since its eligibility page excludes only Nevada, Arizona and Michigan.
Fantasy sports leagues have been outside Kansas's definition of an illegal bet since 2015, when Senate Substitute for HB 2155 added them to the exceptions in K.S.A. 21-6403. Attorney General Derek Schmidt's Opinion 2015-9 (April 24, 2015) concluded that leagues meeting that definition are games of skill, not lotteries. SB 84 excludes fantasy leagues from sports wagering, and the state doesn't have a separate DFS licensing regime.
Help with a gambling problem
The Kansas Coalition on Problem Gambling's site, ksgamblinghelp.com, lists 1-800-GAMBLER and 1-800-522-4700 and a text and chat option, and treatment is free for Kansas residents and their families. The KRGC runs the state's voluntary exclusion program, which covers the casinos and the online sportsbooks.
Sources
SB 84 summary of legislation, Kansas Legislative Research Department
Briefing Book 2026: Sports Wagering, Kansas Legislative Research Department
Kansas Lottery, sports wagering revenues by provider, August 2026
Kansas Lottery, sports wagering revenues, fiscal year through June 2026
Legislative Post Audit, sports wagering audit proposal (April 2026)
KLRD 2026 Summary of Legislation (SB 356, HB 2466, HB 2513, Wyandotte compact)
Kansas Department of Commerce, Chiefs stadium agreement (December 22, 2025)
Butler National Corp., Form 8-K on Boot Hill sports wagering contract renewal (August 2026)
Kansas Star Casino sues state over new sports-betting law (Wichita Eagle, May 2022)
Judge dismisses lawsuit over historical horse racing (Sunflower State Journal, February 28, 2023)
Boyd Gaming 2025 Form 10-K, Exhibit 99.1, governmental gaming regulations (Kansas)
Kansas has no imminent plans to halt sports prediction markets (Sports Betting Dime, April 3, 2025)
KalshiEX LLC v. Cox, D. Utah No. 2:26-cv-00151, decision (August 4, 2026)
KalshiEX, LLC v. Assad, Ninth Circuit No. 25-7516 (August 28, 2026)
KalshiEX LLC v. Schuler, Sixth Circuit Nos. 26-3196 and 26-5235 (September 25, 2026)
39-state amicus brief, Ninth Circuit Nos. 25-7187, 25-7516, 25-7831
Attorneys general comment letter to the CFTC (Colorado AG release, April 30, 2026)
Senate Sub. for HB 2155 (2015) summary, fantasy sports leagues