Kansas Sportsbooks See December Revenue Decline
Both Revenue and handle dried up for Kansas sportsbooks in December.
Key Facts:
- Handle of $262.7 million was down 10% from last month
- DraftKing and FanDuel continue to dominate the market.
- Anemic hold cratered revenue numbers
- Struggling retail sportsbooks continue to see double-digit declines
Santa must have brought lots of sportsbook bettors some presents in the Sunflower State in December because Kansas sportsbooks reported revenue of only $8.78 million on more than $261.3 million bet, for a hold number of only 3.45%
That was down more than 65% from the $25.5 million they brought in the previous month when they managed to hold 8.8%. And while total handle slipped from $279 million to $253 million, it was a spate of favorites covering in the NFL and long-shot parlays hitting that forced companies like FanDuel to issue Q4 revenue warnings not just for Kansas but sportsbooks nationwide.
Last December saw a handle of $249.1 million and revenue of $19.2 million, a slight 1% increase year over year in revenue. Still, it’s another massive miss of 55% on the revenue side in the year-over-year comparison.
Of the nearly $8.5 million wagered at retail locations, about 75% comes from Hollywood Casino at the Kansas Speedway. Still, at just 3.5% of the total handle wagered in the state, many retail books struggle to stay open. And while mobile betting was flat, retail continued its long slide down more than 23% year over year.
Of the six sportsbooks operating in Kansas, DraftKings took in $120 million in bets, while FanDuel brought in $79 million for a 77% market share between them. BetMGM brought in $22 million in wagers, and Fanatics, ESPN BET, and Caesars brought up the rear with $14 million, $13 million, and $12 million, respectively.
Missouri Looms Large
Missouri passed sports betting in November of 2024 by the narrowest of margins. State officials across the river in Kansas City, Missouri, hope to roll out legal sports betting by late summer of 2025. This has the potential to have an outsized impact on the Kansas market.
The Kansas City metro area is home to the largest population center of local bettors, many of whom live on the river’s Missouri side. The city brings in more than $9 million a year currently in taxes on those sports bets, so even a 5% or 10% decline could hurt. Of course, the entire state budget is more than $22 billion, so a million or two here or there is barely a rounding error.
But any decline might make it harder for Kansas retail sports books, especially the ones nearest the new Missouri retail locations at casinos along the Missouri River, to stay open. And job losses in an industry that is only two years old may leave the industry with a black eye in public opinion.
With it more and more likely that the defending world champion Kansas City Chiefs will be in the Super Bowl in New Orleans in February, one thing is sure: Kansas should take full advantage of those fans that have to cross the river to make a bet one last time, because next NFL season, they’ll be betting at home.
