Cigars, Colleges, Booze and Blitzes: Investigating the Sports Betting Boom

The Kansas State Capitol is the state's greatest architectural treasure. It's taller than the United States Capitol. A 2,000-pound statue of Dwight D. Eisenhower stands in the rotunda.

Amir Hamja visited the Capitol one April evening with Amir Hamaja, a photographer. Lawmakers were rushing through the limestone halls to leave before the business day ended.

Amir and Ken Vogel were in Topeka, Kansas, as part of their monthslong investigative project about the growth of legal sports betting in the United States. Since the Supreme Court opened the door to legalize sports gambling in 2018, the industry has exploded. Americans placed nearly $50 billion worth of bets on sports in first half of this year. In Missouri, 74 lobbyists were registered to work on the state’s sports-betting bill. The lobbyists and the lawmakers were not just partners in passing laws, but friends. One lawmaker mentioned to his colleagues that a group of Kansas real-estate developers asked him to add a provision setting aside 80 percent of future sports bets tax revenues for a stadium.