How to get a gambling licence in Kansas: by tender

Two state bodies share the field. The Kansas Lottery offers sports wagering through lottery gaming facility managers, keeps ultimate control of it and approves each platform. The Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission, five members appointed by the Governor, certifies the managers and suppliers, runs the background investigations and enforces. The Kansas State Gaming Agency is separate and covers tribal gaming.

• There is no separate advertising regulator. The Lottery's executive director makes and applies the sports wagering advertising rules (K.S.A. 74-8785), and the KRGC adds limits for the managers.
• No Kansas authority is named for gambling anti-money-laundering. The duty comes through KRGC's rules and federal law.
• The four managers are Kansas Entertainment, LLC (Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway), Boot Hill Casino Management Company, LLC, Kansas Star Casino, LLC and Kansas Crossing Casino, L.C. All are land-based casino companies, and seven platforms operate under them as of 7 November 2026.
• The sports wagering statutes are unamended since 2022. No bill to change them or to authorise online casino or poker is pending as of 7 November 2026.

Laws that apply

• Kansas Lottery Act and Kansas Expanded Lottery Act, with the sports wagering sections K.S.A. 74-8781 to 74-8794 (added in 2022): the Lottery's ownership of sports wagering, the platform limit, the supplier licence, marketing agreements, advertising, records, self-exclusion and the revenue fund
• K.S.A. 74-8734 (management contracts and the state's 10% share of sports wagering revenues), K.S.A. 74-8751 (certification of persons who supply a manager) and K.S.A. 74-8702 (definitions)
• KRGC permanent regulations K.A.R. 112-201 to 112-204 (sports wagering), effective 11 September 2026, with K.A.R. 112-101 and 112-102 (manager and supplier certification) and 112-113-1 (sanctions); the Legislature authorised the sports wagering rules in House Substitute for SB 356 (L. 2026, ch. 118)
• Kansas Lottery regulations K.A.R. 111-701 (temporary, Kansas Register 1 September 2022), including the advertising rule K.A.R. 111-701-20, and the Lottery's Sports Wagering Catalog of approved events and wager types
• K.S.A. 21-6403 to 21-6409 and 21-6425 (the gambling crimes, the fantasy sports exclusion and misuse of nonpublic sports information) and K.S.A. 74-8761 (gray machines)

Kansas has no B2C online licence. The consumer-facing operator is the Lottery, acting through a certified manager. The instruments below are the ones a supplier meets.

• The licence is for a supplier of goods, services, software or other components necessary to determine the odds or outcomes of a sports wager, including data feeds and odds services (K.S.A. 74-8783(a)).
• There is no product licence. The manager's contract fixes the games, and each platform needs the Lottery's approval.
• A professional team, auto racetrack or other marketing entity may promote sports wagering under a marketing agreement (K.S.A. 74-8784) but may not take bets, pay prizes or control the platform. A manager may have at most 50 such agreements.

Kansas sets no nationality or seat test for a supplier. A company in Gibraltar and one in Malta appear on the KRGC's supplier register. The practical gate is a contract with a manager and a clean background investigation.

• A supplier's application includes a copy of the contract or statement of intent with the manager, including how the investigation costs will be covered.
• A certificate may be denied, suspended or revoked for false or misleading information, failure to answer a written request in time, unpaid taxes or associations that threaten the public interest.

Contact the KRGC Licensing Division first. It sets the background investigation deposit and the submission requirements, then the application goes in on KRGC's forms. The platform request goes separately to the Lottery.

• The KRGC's Corporate / Supplier page carries the supplier application packet, with the business entity and personal disclosure forms.
• There is no application window. Supplier licences, certifications and platform approvals are accepted on application.
• The Lottery's executive director must decide a platform approval within 30 days of the request, and only after the KRGC's background investigations are complete. No statutory timeline governs the supplier licence.
• A provisional supplier licence of up to one year may be issued on a complete application and the application fee; the holder surrenders it when the full licence issues.
• A refusal can be reviewed within the KRGC and then in court. A petition for judicial review is filed within 30 days after service of the final order.

The supplier licence fee is not published. The Kansas Lottery Commission sets it under K.S.A. 74-8783(d), and no statute, regulation or form prints an amount. The KRGC Licensing Division bills the actual cost of the background investigation.

• No fee for an additional platform, interface, domain or brand is printed in any Kansas instrument.
• No bank guarantee is required for the supplier licence, and no responsible gambling contribution is billed to a supplier. KRGC fees are non-refundable.
• Laboratory certification, the annual integrity and security audit by Kansas-authorised CPAs, the IT audit and the financial audit are carried out or procured by the manager or its platform provider. No amounts are published, so no first-year total can be stated.

There is no separate sports wagering tax. The state takes 10% of sports wagering revenues through each manager's management contract, and a supplier pays no gambling levy of its own.

• Promotional credits and winnings are deducted from the base. The regulations set no cap on the promotional deduction.
• The state divides its 10% inside government: the first $750,000 each year to the white collar crime fund, then 2% to the problem gambling and addictions grant fund and 80% to the attracting professional sports to Kansas fund.
• Players pay Kansas income tax on winnings at the ordinary rates of 5.2% and 5.58%, and a Kansas payer withholds when federal withholding applies.

The platform is the product. It is certified by an approved laboratory, approved by the Lottery, and kept in Kansas for the servers that accept wagers.

• Certification: before sports wagering is offered, a KRGC-approved laboratory certifies the platform and its equipment against GLI-33 version 1.1 or an equivalent, across sixteen test areas including geolocation, source code review and shutdown and recovery. A certificate from another state does not replace it.
• Servers: the primary server that accepts sports wagers is located in Kansas at a place the executive director approves, with 24-hour surveillance. Duplicate and non-transactional data may be held in the cloud with the executive director's approval.
• Geolocation: a geofence, certified by the laboratory and approved before deployment, blocks wagers from outside Kansas.
• Regulator access: the manager or platform provider gives the executive director unlimited access to wagering transactions and related data, in a format the commission can read.
• Audits: an independent IT audit within 90 days of starting operations and at least once each calendar year, and an annual audit of the Kansas financial statements within 120 days of the fiscal year end.
• Change management: the platform runs an approved change management program. A substantial change needs approval before deployment; other changes are deemed approved if there is no objection within three business days.
• Records: wager records are kept at least two years after the event, in-person video at least 30 days.
• Odds and events: a manager may offer only events on the Lottery's approved list and market types in its Sports Wagering Catalog, and the platform may not set odds designed to ensure a patron wins. No instrument sets a payout percentage or a maximum stake.

Duties bind the manager and its platform provider, and the supplier builds them in.

• Age and identity: players must be 21. A remote account needs legal name, date of birth, residential address and a Social Security number or equivalent, and age and identity are verified before the first wager.
• Payments: cash equivalents, bank transfers, debit and credit cards, online and mobile payment systems and promotional credits are permitted. A manager may not lend money to a person engaged in sports wagering. Cryptocurrency is not named and is allowed only if the executive director approves it.
• Withdrawals: a request is honoured within five calendar days. No rule requires player funds to be segregated; the reserve in section 5 stands in its place.
• Responsible gambling tools: prominent tools to set limits on time and money, prominent information on compulsive gambling and treatment, and an option to exclude payment methods (K.S.A. 74-8782(e)). No reality check or cooling-off period is mandated.
• Self-exclusion: the KRGC runs the Sports Wagering Exclusion Program. A manager restricts anyone who asks and every manager restricts anyone the KRGC passes on. Periods are two years, five years, lifetime or another period.
• Helpline: the Kansas Problem Gambling Helpline is 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-522-4700.
• No rule requires a licence number, a KRGC logo or a Lottery logo to be shown on a platform. The manager's identity must appear in every sports wagering advertisement.

Advertising is allowed, with the Lottery's approval before each advertisement runs.

• The rule is K.A.R. 111-701-20, a temporary regulation published in the Kansas Register on 1 September 2022, made under K.S.A. 74-8785. Managers and platforms may not advertise sports wagering until the executive director or designee approves the advertisement.
• Every advertisement identifies the manager, shows a toll-free number and a responsible gaming message the executive director approves, is accurate about the events and wagers accepted, and avoids false promises or any implication that winning is likely.
• No advertisement may target minors, other ineligible persons, problem gamblers or other vulnerable persons, and the rule takes account of form, content, quantity, timing, media and location. No instrument bans a medium or sets a watershed.
• "Risk free" may not be used in advertising or promotion (K.A.R. 112-204-4(b)). Free play promotions need the executive director's prior approval.
• Sponsorship runs through marketing agreements: a team, racetrack or other entity may promote on behalf of a manager at its premises, signage included. At least 20% of a manager's marketing agreements must be with nonprofit fraternal or veterans organisations.
• The manager is responsible for advertising done for it. No separate rules exist for affiliates.

The reports sit with the manager and its platform provider, which pass the duties to the supplier by contract.

• Anti-money-laundering: a risk management framework that covers structuring, reports of violations of federal or state AML laws to the commission within 14 days, no tipping off, and federal rules including FinCEN reporting. No Kansas rule requires the compliance officer to sit in Kansas.
• Complaints: the platform shows a notice or link on how to complain to the manager and to the commission. No independent dispute scheme is required.
• Sanctions: the KRGC may revoke, suspend or deny a licence, certificate or permit, and may issue warning letters and agreed remedial sanctions.
• Enforcement: no Kansas body can order a site or app blocked. Commercial gambling is a felony, and a player who bets with an unlicensed operator is exposed to the gambling misdemeanor.

The route a platform provider takes: a contract with a manager, a supplier licence from the Lottery Commission, the KRGC's investigation and the Lottery's approval of the platform.

1. 01

   Check the market

   K.S.A. 74-8781 · 74-8782

   Sports wagering is run by the Kansas Lottery through four casino managers, each with at most three platforms. There is no operator licence and no online casino or poker route.

2. 02

   Agree terms with a manager

   K.S.A. 74-8782(a)

   The manager contracts the platform, and the contract needs the Lottery's approval. A marketing agreement only promotes.

3. 03

   Contact the KRGC Licensing Division

   KRGC Corporate / Supplier page

   Ask for the submission requirements and the amount of the background investigation deposit before filing.

4. 04

   File the supplier application

   K.S.A. 74-8783 · K.A.R. 112-102-4

   File on the KRGC's forms with the ownership disclosures (10% direct owners, 15% parent companies, chief executive and chief financial officers), personal forms, the contract or statement of intent with the manager and the fee. Ask for a provisional licence of up to one year if eligible.

5. 05

   Certify the platform and the geofence

   K.A.R. 112-203-6 · 112-203-7

   An approved laboratory certifies the platform and equipment to GLI-33 version 1.1 or an equivalent, and the geofence, before sports wagering is offered.

6. 06

   Get the Lottery's approval and go live

   K.S.A. 74-8782(b)

   The executive director decides within 30 days of the request, after the KRGC's investigations are complete. Place the primary server in Kansas, fund the reserve, and run only the Lottery's approved events and wager types.

7. 07

   Keep reporting and renew

   K.S.A. 74-8783(e) · K.A.R. 112-204

   The supplier licence runs two years. File the audits, report within the deadlines in section 10, and renew before it expires.

For businesses that supply a manager with services short of a platform: geolocation, identity, payments, hosting, marketing technology or integrity monitoring. The KRGC certifies or registers them after a background investigation.

1. 01

   Find the class

   K.S.A. 74-8751(a)(3) · K.A.R. 112-202-2

   A contractor over $250,000 a year needs the one-year certification. A vendor whose services affect sports wagering but are outside a platform certification is a sports wagering registrant, if the executive director determines so.

2. 02

   File and disclose

   K.A.R. 112-102-4 · 112-102-7

   File on the KRGC's forms with the contract or statement of intent and the disclosures. The applicant pays the investigation costs.

3. 03

   Hold and renew

   K.A.R. 112-102-10

   The certification is not transferable. Renew at least 120 days before expiry; a timely filing suspends expiry for up to six months.

Tier-ordered: official government first, then practitioner, then trade media. Every primary figure was read from the in-force text on 9 Nov 2026.