KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
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Missouri voters legalized sports gambling last November, but betting hasn’t gone live quite yet — creating some headaches for unsuspecting Big 12 men’s basketball fans from out of town, who got a lesson about life on a state line.
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“That’s crazy how it’s split between the two,” Jaden Ibarra said.
The Ibarra family made the trek from Tucson, Arizona, to Kansas City to follow the Wildcats.
“As long as U of A’s playing, we’re here,” Deven Ibarra, Jaden’s brother, said.
It’s the family’s first trip to Kansas City and they are enjoying the city so far.
“It’s pretty clean, pretty fun,” Gabriel Ibarra, the father, said. “It seems like there is a lot to do. The district over here in the corner (the Power and Light District) seems pretty interesting.”
His wife, Valerie Ibarra, quickly added: “Besides the betting — all good!”
Not being able to wager on games in Missouri was the Ibarra family’s only complaint.
“Absolutely, yeah,” Valerie said, “checked into the hotel and looking at apps, found that out pretty quickly.”
That meant that the Ibarras, who come from a state where sports gambling is legal, had to adapt. Fortunately, the Downtown Marriott isn’t far from Kansas, where sports gambling is legal.
“We realized that we had to take some scooters and cross the state line over the freeway, so we can do our betting,” Gabriel said.
It’s become part of the family’s morning routine — a two-and-a-half-mile round-trip visit to Kansas.
“Every day, we’ve been going over there in the mornings before all the games,” Jaden said.
Deven added, “This is probably the third or fourth time we’ve gone.”
Jaden added, “And we have four games throughout the day, so it’s kind of a hassle having to go back and forth. We’d rather definitely just be here and be able to do that instead of crossing and coming back, crossing and coming back.”
Gabriel said it’s not a deal-breaker, “but still a little dangerous — riding scooters.”
Deven and Jaden said it’s worth it.
“I mean, we’re 0-2 right now, so not yet — it hasn’t paid off yet,” Deven said. “But hopefully today, fingers crossed, we’re going to get that money.”
Jaden added, “It would be a lot more convenient and a lot better if we could just sit down, be able to get to the game on time and place our bets over there.”
The Ibarras said losing the ability to place live bets from their seats at the games was the biggest disappointment — and they weren’t the only Big 12 fans frustrated by Missouri’s betting laws.
“It is very unfortunate,” Iowa State fan Shay Harmsen said Thursday morning outside the T-Mobile Center.
His friend, Dylan Strief, added: “We got here and were like — ‘Are you kidding me?’”
Betting on sports is legal in Iowa, so it was a surprise that it wasn’t in Missouri.
“We will be in Kansas next year,” Pyper Gibbs said. “We will be getting our AirBnb in Kansas.”
But that won’t be necessary as this will be the last Big 12 tournament in Kansas City with sports gambling outlawed.
“So, next year when we come back we will be able to use DraftKings and FanDuel and all that good stuff?” Pyper asked.
Indeed, the new law requires the Missouri Gaming Commission to have sports gambling operational in the state no later than Dec. 1, 2025 — in plenty of time for next year’s tourney.
Draft rules have been submitted to the Missouri Secretary of State’s office, but Denny Hoskins said he will not consider them under emergency provisions. That means the Gaming Commission’s original timeline to launch sports gambling by the end of June has been pushed back several months.
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