Sports betting bill passes Kansas House, awaits Senate vote

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - The bill to legalize sports betting in Kansas has passed the Kansas House and now awaits a vote in the Senate.

On Thursday, April 28, the Kansas House voted to pass House Substitute for Senate Bill 84, which would legalize sports betting under the Kansas expanded lottery act.

The bill was introduced in the Senate on Jan. 26 and passed to the Committee on Federal and State Affairs, which sponsors the bill. The Senate passed the bill under an emergency final action vote of 26-12 and sent it to the House.

Once in the House, the bill was referred to its Committee on Federal and State Affairs. Once in the House, the bill underwent a slew of amendments and was finally passed on March 30 with an emergency final action vote of 88-36.

On April 1, the House voted 63-49 to adopt a conference report for the bill, which included its previous amendments, however, on Wednesday, the Senate motioned to suspend under Joint Rule 4(k), which creates exceptions for bill consideration deadlines in order to allow consideration of the adoption.

Under the rules of the Legislature, bills cannot be considered after April 1 except those vetoed by the Governor. However, this rule can be suspended for the consideration of a specific bill with a majority vote.

On Thursday, the House approved the motion to suspend the rule and adopted the conference committee report.

The bill will now be sent to the Senate for a vote to pass the bill as amended, which is expected later tonight.