Home Missouri senator blocks Kansas City Chiefs from running a sportsbook ahead of stadium move

Missouri senator blocks Kansas City Chiefs from running a sportsbook ahead of stadium move

Missouri Senator Nick Schroer has filed legislation that would block the Kansas City Chiefs from operating a sportsbook in the state.

This comes after the football team confirmed plans to move into a new stadium across the state border in Kansas. Senator Schroer’s SJR 109 was pre-filed on December 31 and proposes a constitutional amendment to remove the Chiefs from the official list of teams legally allowed to run sportsbooks.

While it’s still pending approval by the Senate and the House, the bill would go up for vote among the citizens of Missouri, likely either in the November 2026 general election or at an election held for this issue in particular.

The bill’s wording repeals the section that allows sports teams that are members of professional leagues, including the NFL, replacing instead with wording that refers to entities “at any location within each sports district, as approved by each applicable professional sports team that plays its home games in such sports district”.

The Chiefs’ move to Kansas

With the Kansas City Chiefs now confirmed to no longer be playing their home games in Missouri, this would ostensibly block the team from operating a sportsbook. There does appear to be a door open for the Chiefs to continue sportsbook operations, but it would need to work via a third party.

“If a professional sports team designates a sports wagering operator to operate on its behalf, then that sports wagering operator, rather than the professional sports team, shall submit to the Commission for licensure and shall be considered the licensee for all aspects of Commission oversight and regulatory control,” states the filing.

The move has been in the works for several years, but has only recently been officially confirmed. The team announced on December 22 that it planned to build a new stadium, training facility, and mixed-use entertainment areas in Kansas, and therefore leave the Arrowhead Stadium to move across the state line for the 2031 NFL season.

Featured image: Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

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Rachael Davies
Freelance Journalist

Rachael Davies has spent six years reporting on tech and entertainment, writing for publications like the Evening Standard, Huffington Post, Dazed, and more. From niche topics like the latest gaming mods to consumer-faced guides on the latest tech, she puts her MA in Convergent Journalism to work, following avenues guided by a variety of interests. As well as writing, she also has experience in editing as the UK Editor of The Mary Sue , as well as speaking on the important of SEO in journalism at the Student Press Association National Conference. You can find her full portfolio over on…