Dickinson Co., Kan. — For the fourth year, the Kansas legislature will consider sports betting in the state. Rep. John Barker, chair of the Federal and State Affairs Committee gave an update on the bill.

The reason it has taken several years to this point comes down to the details. Those including safeguards for Kansans and the casinos and legislature not always on the same page.  Another reason is they want to make sure they don’t have to revisit the issue next year.

The difference this year is there are four casinos in the state and Rep. Barker said two of them are on board currently.

In the bill, they will send some money to help fight white collar crimes through the Kansas Attorney General, send some funds to help with problem gambling, all while trying to make sure the state gets its fair share of the revenue which he says won’t be that much.

The senate passed a bill last year, but Rep. Barker expects the house to pass a bill with some changes so then the two chambers would have to get together and hash out the differences which he hopes is before the end of March when they adjourn.

Jonathan Lang covers state and local news for KFRM and KCLY. You can follow the KCLY or KFRM Facebook page for more stories.

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