A Missouri senator has introduced legislation to block the Kansas City Chiefs from operating a sportsbook in the state after the team confirmed plans to move into a new stadium across the border in Kansas.
Sen. Nick Schroer’s SJR 109, pre-filed on Dec. 31, proposes a constitutional amendment to remove the Chiefs from the list of professional sports teams legally recognized for the purposes of sports betting. If approved by the Senate and the House, it would put the question to the voters of Missouri either on the ballot in the November 2026 general election or at a special election to be called by the governor.
“Current constitutional provisions define ‘professional sports team’ as a team located in this state that is a member of the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, the National Basketball Association, Major League Soccer, the Women’s National Basketball Association or the National Women’s Soccer League for the purposes of conducting sports wagering in this state,” reads the summary of the bill.
“This constitutional amendment, if approved by the voters, removes members of the National Football League from such definition.”
Currently, Missouri sports betting law allows the Missouri Gaming Commission to issue one online sports betting license to each pro team or a sportsbook operator designated by such team, as well as one retail betting license for each team or partner sportsbook to offer wagering within the sports district in which the team plays its home games. Removing NFL teams from the definition of pro sports teams would render the Chiefs inapplicable for consideration.
After years of talk, Chiefs are on the move
Schroer pre-filed his bill nine days after the Chiefs announced on Dec. 22 an agreement to build a new stadium, a new training facility and multiple mixed-use entertainment districts in Kansas. The team will leave Arrowhead Stadium and move across state lines in time for the start of the 2031 NFL season.
The Chiefs said the move will generate more than 20,000 jobs and more than $4.4 billion in economic impact for Kansas but will not require any funds from the current state budget or any new taxes in Kansas. Part of the public portion of the funding will come from the Attracting Professional Sports to Kansas Fund, which was established by the Kansas legislature when it legalized sports betting in 2022.
The other public portion would come from the Sales Tax and Revenue (STAR) bond program, which was amended in 2024 with the aim of helping to entice teams across the border. The Chiefs made their announcement shortly after a council of Kansas lawmakers voted unanimously to allow STAR bonds to cover up to 70% of the cost of the stadium and accompanying mixed-use district.
Chiefs have no Missouri market access partner
The Chiefs supported the idea of legalizing online sports betting in Missouri but were not one of the in-state teams to partner with a sportsbook for market access to Missouri’s sports wagering market before it opened on Dec. 1.
The NHL’s St. Louis Blues (DraftKings), MLB’s St. Louis Cardinals (bet365) and Major League Soccer’s St. Louis City (FanDuel) all teamed up with sportsbooks in the state in one form or another. The Kansas City Royals, whose Kauffman Stadium is next door to Arrowhead and who were also linked with relocating to Kansas, had a Missouri market access partnership with Underdog before that operator opted out of providing sports betting in favor of operating prediction markets.
The Chiefs have had partnerships with BetMGM and DraftKings since Kansas launched sports betting. Multiple Missouri-licensed sportsbooks also used former Chiefs stars for their ceremonial launches on day one of that state’s market.
Meanwhile, recent data from GeoComply found that Arrowhead Stadium was a major betting hotspot for Missouri in the first few days of its sports betting market. It recorded more than 10,000 active sports betting accounts and more than 43,000 geolocation checks at the stadium on the evening of the Chiefs’ Week 14 matchup with the Houston Texans.
