KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Sports wagering begins in Kansas on Thursday and experts are offering tips for betters to be successful.
“Have a simple plan and have a little budget," Kevin Hennessy, director of publicity with FanDuel, said. "You either win and it’s a great experience. But even if you lose, it’s still a nice simple way to kind of start your journey into sports betting.”
Hennessy added people wagering for the first time should consider the simplest ways to bet like the money line.
"Basically, you are picking the team to win or lose," he said.
Another tip for beginners is to bet on the spread.
"Base it off of who’s going to win and by how much," Hennessy said. "So, if it’s three points, you just got to make sure that you’re picking above or below the team for three points."
FanDuel and SI are a few resources that provide a Sports Betting 101 education for betters.
Another tip for success is to avoid gambling addiction. Hennessy said FanDuel offers a resource on their app to help people.
"The little R will open up our tools, which is our responsible gaming tools," he said. "Those are ways you can set limits on your time, how many bets you place and also how much you deposit. That’s the best way to kind of go about doing this, doing sports betting, is to actually have a budget in mind, set it responsibly and use those tools to kind of get you going into sports betting."
Kansas will join several states that have already legalized sports wagering. One of those states is Illinois which went live in March 2020.
“What we’ve seen is an increase in people calling the helpline with sports betting," Bill Johnson, executive director of the Illinois Council on Problem Gambling, said. "It’s generally adult males, 21 to 30 years old is the age group that we’ve seen the biggest increase, but it’s increased all across the board."
According to Illinois Council on Problem Gambling, calls to their helpline went up from 401 calls in 2020 to 750 in 2021. There were 91 calls for January and February of 2022.
Kansas Lottery has resources to help recognize warning signs of addiction or where to get help.
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