Kansans are already betting on the Chiefs. The state should get in on the action

The odds may have improved that Kansans could soon legally place wagers on sports. And that would be a good thing for battered state revenues.

The proposal has been debated for years, and for four straight sessions of the Kansas Legislature now. But with state tax revenues decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Senate Bill 84 allowing sports betting might, and should, have unprecedented momentum.

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the state’s four casinos in Dodge City, Mulvane, Pittsburg and Kansas City, Kansas particularly hard: They recorded nearly 30% losses in 2020 as a group.

Let’s be real. Sports betting has always gone on, and is enjoying a popular renaissance across the nation. Major sports networks are now embracing open talk of the formerly taboo subject. And professional sports leagues such as the NFL, NHL and WNBA have overcome their aversion to the stigma of gambling enough to locate teams in Las Vegas.

As with the lottery, public demand will ultimately win out.

Legalization doesn’t create sports betting, but brings it into the light, replacing shadowy offshore wagering websites and illegal bookmaking operations at home.

It’s all possible because of a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down a 1992 federal law restricting sports betting to four states: Nevada, of course, but also Delaware, Montana and Oregon, which already had sports betting regimes in place.

So the question is, why wait any longer — and punish the state’s coffers while nearly two dozen other states move ahead with it? The Kansas Lottery estimates sports betting could funnel $3.5 million or more to the state.

SB 84 would essentially allow for in-person and online sports betting in Kansas, grounded in the state’s four casinos and regulated by the Kansas Lottery. It would tax in-person bets 7.5% and online wagers 10% — “both below the median rate charged in the roughly two-dozen states with legal wagering,” according to sports betting media site actionnetwork.com.

Missouri too is considering loosening the reins on sports wagering, with actionnetwork.com calling it “arguably the busiest state for 2021 sports betting legislation.” Missouri’s half-dozen gambling bills, the site says, “has it among the most-watched legislatures in 2021.”

In Kansas, besides needing to pass the Senate, legislators also would have to reconcile the Senate bill with a sports betting bill in the Kansas House.

Sen. Larry Alley, Republican of Winfield, said he expects that chamber’s bill to make it out of the Federal and State Affairs Committee he chairs. “I think they’ve hammered out most of the big decisions” already, he said.

Gov. Laura Kelly is among those of us who’ve been hoping for a deal for several years now. Two years ago, she said, “Other states are moving ahead with that, and I would really hate for Kansas to be left behind.”

It already has been, for too long.

This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 5:00 AM.