Imposing a 3% excise tax on all sports wagers, distributing the proceeds of such tax to the state school district finance fund and decreasing the statewide property tax levy for school districts by 1.5 mills.

2025-2026 Regular Session

Imposes a 3% excise tax on Kansas sports wagers, directing all proceeds to the School District Finance Fund to fund K-12 education and cut the statewide school property tax by 1.5

Died in Committee

#funds #gamblingandgaming #schools #taxation

Bill Summary: HB 2791 (2025-2026) – Kansas

Purpose and intent

HB 2791 proposes imposing a new excise tax of 3% on all sports wagers within Kansas. The revenue collected from this excise tax would be allocated to the state School District Finance Fund. In addition, the bill would reduce the statewide property tax levy for school districts by 1.5 mills. The overarching goal is to channel revenue from sports betting into public education while achieving property tax relief for districts.

Key provisions and changes

Imposed tax: A 3% excise tax on all sports wagers conducted within the state.

Revenue allocation: All receipts from the 3% sports wagering excise tax would be deposited into the state School District Finance Fund to support K-12 education financing.

Property tax relief: The bill would reduce the statewide property tax levy for school districts by 1.5 mills.

Administration and collection: The proposal relies on the existing framework for gaming-related revenues and tax administration to collect the new excise tax (details not provided in the summary; typical administration would involve regulatory oversight of sports wagering and tax collection by the Kansas Department of Revenue or a designated gaming regulator).

Effective date: Not specified in the provided materials; usually, such measures include an effective date upon enactment or a defined future date.

Who would be affected

Sports wagering operators: Businesses offering sports bets in Kansas would be subject to the new 3% excise tax on their wagers.

Government finance: State education funding would receive dedicated revenue through the School District Finance Fund, potentially increasing or stabilizing K-12 funding.

Property tax burden: Kansas school districts and, by extension, property taxpayers, would see a reduction of a statewide 1.5-mill property tax levy for schools.

General public: Kansas residents who participate in sports wagering could see a portion of tax proceeds redirected to education and a lower property tax levy funded by those revenues.

Procedural and timeline aspects

Introduced: March 4, 2026.

Referred: March 4, 2026, to the House Committee on Taxation.

Committee action: On April 10, 2026, the bill died in committee, meaning it did not advance to the House floor for a vote and did not become law in its current form.

Status implication: As a died-in-committee bill, the measure would require reintroduction or substantial amendments if lawmakers choose to pursue similar policy in a future session.

Notes and considerations

The act creates a dedicated funding stream for the state School District Finance Fund, linking sports wagering revenue to public education finance.

The 1.5-mill cut to the statewide property tax levy is a relatively broad tax relief mechanism tied to the same revenue source.

Details such as the administrative structure for collection, any earmarking constraints, or sunset provisions are not specified in the provided summary and would require examination of the bill text.

With the bill having died in committee, its provisions would not take effect unless reintroduced and enacted in a subsequent session.