Missouri sports betting amendment could cut into Kansas gaming revenue

Kansas’ gaming tax revenue may face a significant hit if Missouri voters approve a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize sports betting, Kansas Budget Director Adam Proffitt warned on Thursday. The move could reduce cross-border betting by Missouri residents, who currently wager in Kansas due to its earlier legalization of sports gambling.

“I would be naive to say that it wouldn’t have any impact... We’d like to keep that money in Kansas,” Proffitt said during an economic outlook conference at Washburn University, as per a Kansas Reflector report.

Proffitt highlighted the current trend of Missouri residents driving across state lines to place bets through platforms like DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM. “There’s a host of cars literally lined up on the Kansas side — they’re on their phones placing bets on football games,” Proffitt observed.

Since sports betting was legalized in Kansas in September 2022, the state has collected $18.2 million in taxes, with betting platforms generating $182 million in revenue from $4.1 billion in wagers. Kansas took in $657,000 in tax revenue from sports betting in August 2024, an increase from $484,000 in the same month last year.

Proponents of Missouri Amendment 2, which will be decided in November 2024, estimate that the state could collect $4.7 million in tax revenue in its first year of legal sports betting, growing to $38.7 million annually by the fifth year. If passed, Missouri regulators would be tasked with setting up a sports gambling network by December 2024.

Proffitt did not provide an estimate of how much Kansas might lose in gaming revenue if Missouri’s amendment passes, but emphasized that cross-border betting could see a significant shift.

The state’s general fund has authorized $10.5 billion in spending against $9.7 billion in forecasted revenue for the current fiscal, but Proffitt said Kansas’ cash reserves would cushion the deficit. “Really critical to note, we had a lot of one-time projects scheduled. We have a strong ending balance," he said.