Missouri Sports Betting Legislation Gaining Ground

In order to put an initiative on the ballot, a campaign to legalize sports betting in Missouri has gathered more than half of the signatures required. More than 100,000 signatures have been gathered for an initiative petition, according to a consortium that represents Missouri’s six major sports teams and is called Winning For Missouri Education. The campaign must gather about 180,000 signatures and deliver them to the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office by May 5 in order to get the issue on the ballot in November. The founders of the campaign say they are ahead of schedule in gathering the required amount of signatures and intend to collect over 300,000 before the deadline.

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“We are seeing strong support in the signature gathering effort because Missourians know it is time to legalize sports betting and use the funding for education,” said campaign spokesman, Jack Cardetti. “It’s not only good for our economy but will support our teachers and future generations of Missourians for years to come.’

The proposal would permit on-site and mobile sports betting at all thirteen casinos in Missouri as well as six major league sports clubs. Sports betting would be governed by the Missouri Gaming Commission and subject to a 10 percent levy. The organizers of the campaign anticipate raising tens of millions of dollars for Missouri’s public schools.

GeoComply, a gaming compliance organization that oversees and maintains compliance for internet betting companies, reports that Missouri regulations prevented roughly 431,000 Missourians from wagering on the Super Bowl in surrounding states.

In a news release dated February 20, Cardetti stated, “With the Super Bowl data highlighting the issue, it’s clear that Missourians are already betting billions on offshore sites or across state lines, without contributing a single dime to our schools or our state’s economy.”

Sports betting initiative petitions go through a similar procedure as the recreational marijuana initiative that was approved two years ago in Missouri. The sports betting legislation would direct licensing fees and taxes, totaling at least $5 million yearly, into problem gambling programs. The remaining tax revenues would be used toward elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education.

Legislators in Missouri have discussed a number of sports betting measures in recent years, but many of them have stalled because of political opposition. For example, state senator Denny Hoskins, a Republican, has previously advocated that sports betting be combined with the regulation of video games akin to slot machines that have appeared in truck stops and convenience stores. Casinos are against such requirement.

Through the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office, the coalition submitted four ballot measures last year. In recent months, there have been a number of campaign initiatives around Kansas City Chiefs and St. Louis Blues games.

According to a recent Emerson College study, 62 percent of Missouri voters support legalizing sports betting and support comes from Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.

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