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Gambling regulators in Kansas almost could have reprinted their gaming revenue reports from September for the month of October. While the individual statistics changed, their context in the state was identical.
For the second consecutive month, sports bettors have wagered a record amount for a single month in Kansas. Also for the second month in a row, casino gaming revenue was flat and sportsbooks failed to reap record revenue from that unprecedented haul.
Kansas casinos fail to push October numbers
Starting the second quarter of the current fiscal year for Kansas’ four casinos, their overall trend continues. October 2023’s revenue from poker, slots and table games is nearly identical to the win from the same gaming verticals in October 2022.
The only slight difference from September Kansas gaming revenue to October was that two of Kansas’ casinos, the Hollywood Casino in Kansas City and the Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane, saw marginal year-over-year increases.
However, the annual downturns at the Boot Hill Casino in Dodge City and the Kansas Crossing Casino in Pittsburg were more than sufficient to counteract those small gains. Those properties were down over 9.4% and 10.2% respectively year-over-year.
For October 2023, distributions to host cities and Kansas’ problem gambling fund topped $1.6 million. Thus, casino revenue in Kansas stays on pace to match but not exceed a strong 2022-23 fiscal year. Sports betting activity continues to break records in the state, though.
Bettors put down $249.7 million on sporting events in Kansas
It’s nearly impossible to quantify whether there is some Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce effect on sports wagering in Kansas. Putting an exact number on that is even more difficult. Circumstantial evidence suggests that could be the case to some degree, however.
Bettors in Kansas wagered almost $250 million during October in Kansas using the state’s legal sportsbooks. That’s a single-month record for the state. At the same time, the sportsbooks weren’t rolling in it.
Books won only about 5.8% of the money bet. Books fared better in October 2022, winning over $18.5 million or about 9.8% of the dollars wagered. In a similar fashion, the state wasn’t swimming laps in piles of money, either. The 10% rate led to just over $1.4 million in tax revenue for Kansas during the month.
Kansas’ short history in terms of legal sports betting (sportsbooks started taking bets in September 2022) suggests that October’s betting activity won’t survive the winter as the new single-month record. For now, though,
