Twenty-four hours after its counterpart in Missouri killed a pair of legal sports betting bills, the Kansas Senate early Friday morning approved and sent to Gov. Laura Kelly a bill that would allow for statewide mobile wagering.
The Senate approved the hotly debated bill 21-13 after the House had approved it 73-49 Thursday.
The Kansas Legislature becomes the second this year to send a sports betting bill to its governor, and the first to send a broad bill that would allow for an open, competitive marketplace. Maine lawmakers last week passed what is essentially a limited tribal sports betting bill that locks out casinos in the state from offering digital wagering. Gov. Janet Mills has not yet signed it.
By this time last year, three states had approved sports betting. So far in 2022, lawmakers in Georgia, Kentucky, and Missouri have failed to legalize despite a measure of support in all three states. In other states Thursday, the Massachusetts Senate approved a bill different from a House-passed version, setting up a conference committee to sort out differences, and a Minnesota committee voted in favor of a bill that moves the issue forward there.