The experts at BetKansas.com have assembled this guide to explain what we mean when we talk about Kansas sports betting revenue and sportsbook handle that the state reports each month.
There is an active market with many online or mobile operators as well as a growing number of retail sports wagering options at brick-and-mortar casinos in the Sunflower State.
When reports refer to handle, that means the total money wagered each month on sports in the state. In Kansas, hundreds of millions of dollars monthly are bet on sporting events. From the time legal sports betting launched in September 2022 in Kansas to early 2023, legal, regulated sports bets were placed with both online sportsbooks as well as in person at one of four physical casinos.
The vast majority of sports wagers are placed online by customers using Kansas sportsbook apps.
The Kansas online gambling revenue on sports refers to the amount that operators have left after they pay out winning bets. From there, bookmakers pay 10% tax to the state on the adjusted gross revenue.
The madness of March might not have been kind to the Kansas Jayhawks, but certainly smiled upon the Sunflower State’s sportsbooks, with a 24.6% month-over-month and 22.6% year-over-year increase in handle and a 133.9% month-over-month surge in revenues.
In total, Kansas’ six sports betting operators took in $252,901,770 in total handle in March, up 24.6% from February’s total of $203,046,644 and 22.6% from 2022’s sum of $206,287,094, with the Sunflower State clearing $200 million in handle for a seventh straight month.
That jump in sports betting handle trickled down to Kansas’ wagering revenue and tax totals, with operators pulling in $7,146,975 in wagering revenue (up 133.9% from the $3,054,937 collected in February), with a $714,697 tax bill (up 133.9% from $305,494 in February).
On an individual operator basis, DraftKings Sportsbook once again reigned supreme in Kansas, with a total handle of $98,253,306 to mark the 19th straight month where the Boston-based operator was atop the state’s sports betting market.
Rounding out the list in Kansas during March were FanDuel Sportsbook ($70,204,054), BetMGM ($43,675,511), ESPN BET ($17,869,845), Caesars Sportsbook ($11,891,393) and Fanatics Gaming ($1,291,295).
In 2023, Kansas sportsbooks took in $2,121,564,412 for the first full year of operations, with just over $2 million of that handle coming in via mobile wagers. In 2022, the total handle was $718,777,213 for the first four months of operation in the state after Kansas launched on Sept. 1.
Kansas’ sports betting tax rate is 10% for online and retail sportsbooks. That’s what operators pay to the state out of the adjusted gross revenue derived from sports wagering once winning bets are paid out.
The Kansas Lottery has released monthly wagering reports on the same day that the agency’s commission meets each month. The agency has released their 2023 reports on Jan. 11 (for December), Feb. 10 (for January), March 8 (for February), April 12 (for March) and May 10 (for April), averaging out to one report for every 30 days of the calendar year.
Kansas tax revenue from sports betting largely goes towards a fund to attract major league sports teams, including the Kansas City Chiefs to come to the state. The remainder goes towards the state’s general fund, benefiting anything from public education to infrastructure projects.
The Kansas Lottery reports sports betting handles in the Sunflower State, while the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission oversees the nuts and bolts of wagering infrastructure in the Sunflower State.
Mobile sports betting handle refers to the amount of money wagered on mobile or online apps, using phones, laptops or other online devices. Customers can often take advantage of Kansas sports betting promo codes when using these online operators. In Kansas, sports betting is done either at a retail location (at one of the four state-owned casinos) or on one of the six licensed online sportsbooks in the state (Barstool Sportsbook, BetMGM Sportsbook, Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings Sportsbook, FanDuel Sportsbook and PointsBet Kansas).
Handle is the terms used to refer to the amount of money wagered in a month. If a handle is reported as $350 million, that means that the operators in the state combined to accept that much money from people betting on sports. Revenue refers to what’s left over after winning bets are paid out; Kansas gaming revenue on sports is taxed based on the amount of adjusted gross revenue each month. From September to December 2022, the first four months of operation, Kansas sportsbooks accounted for nearly $21 million in revenue from sports betting.
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The experts at BetKansas who bring you the latest updates in Kansas sports betting. We pull together decades of experience to give you analysis as well as comparisons of the best Kansas online gambling apps.
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