Following a period of uncertainty, the Kansas Lottery has now received a significant boost in its quest to launch legalised sports gambling in the state next week.
As reported by Legal Sports Report, the Kansas Attorney General Office has approved the remaining Kansas Lottery regulations which had threatened to derail the implementation of legalised sports gambling.
According to John Milburn, a Spokesman for Attorney General Derek Schmidt, three of the lottery’s proposed regulations had shown “specific shortcomings” that required urgent modifications.
However, Stephen Durrell, Executive Director of the Kansas Lottery, was always confident that such a decision would not derail next Thursday’s target date.
All four state-owned casinos are still expected to start operations with a ‘soft launch’ at noon on September 1, with the full launch a week later on September 8, just in time for the new NFL season.
“The ‘soft launch’ is just a way to give our casino partners and their platforms a chance to get up and running, start taking bets, etc, before the official start of the professional football season,” said Kansas Lottery spokesperson Cory Thone.
“[It] just adds some runway to make sure everything is safe, secure, and functional for our players.”
The Attorney General’s Office, though, still needs to sign off on the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission (KRGC) regulations, which were submitted on August 17.
Nonetheless, the Kansas Lottery and KRGC regularly work with the Attorney General and do not appear concerned about the outstanding regulations.
“There are significantly more of those regulations than there were lottery regulations, and we will continue to expedite that process,” Milburn said in an email to Legal Sports Report.