Missouri Bill Targets Chiefs’ Sports Betting After Planned Kansas Move

• Missouri proposal would exclude NFL teams from sports-betting privileges
• Chiefs plan $4B Kansas stadium, leaving Arrowhead after 2030
• Lawmakers call move a betrayal; more bills seek financial penalties

A bill filed in the Missouri legislature would effectively bar the Kansas City Chiefs from accessing the state’s sports-betting privileges – a dash of political retribution, perhaps, for the team’s proposal to cross the border from Kansas City, Mo., into Kansas City, Kan.

In December, the Chiefs announced a plan to build a new domed stadium in Wyandotte County, Kansas, and their intention to leave Arrowhead Stadium, their home of more than half a century, when the lease expires after the 2030 season. Chiefs owner and chairman Clark Hunt said the project would involve a “minimum” $4 billion investment in the state of Kansas.

Betting Privilege

As it stands, Missouri’s sports-betting laws allow the state’s professional sports teams to partner with licensed operators to offer wagering, with teams permitted to share in betting revenue.

While the Chiefs have marketing deals with sportsbooks, they haven’t yet taken advantage of the team-affiliated betting privilege under Missouri law.

A proposed constitutional amendment filed by State Sen. Nick Schroer (R – St. Charles County) would keep it that way.

Current constitutional provisions define ‘professional sports team’ as a team located in this state that is a member of the [NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, MLS, WNBA, or the NWSL] for the purposes of conducting sports wagering in this state,” it reads. “This constitutional amendment, if approved by the voters, removes members of the [NFL] from such definition.”

The proposed amendment, which would have to be approved by voters, doesn’t name the Chiefs, nor does it reference the proposed move. But its intention is clear. It would remove “all” NFL teams from Missouri’s sports betting framework, which only affects the Chiefs because they are the state’s sole NFL team.

Kansas also has sports betting, as well as a law that allows professional teams to partner with casinos to launch sportsbooks.

‘Really Pissed’

The amendment is just one of a number of bills that have been filed as a reaction to the Chiefs’ announcement, including one that would make the team liable to pay more than half the costs associated with demolishing Arrowhead after 2030, a sign that temperatures are running high in the legislature.

Kansas City’s split across state lines has caused repeated, very public friction over the decades. For years, both states engaged in what local media openly called a “border war,” offering tax incentives to lure companies across the state line, often just a few miles.

This became such a problem that in 2019, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) signed a truce agreement pledging to stop using incentives to poach companies from one another.