Sports betting could be on Missouri’s ballot in 2024. Here’s what to know
After legislative stalemates led to the failure of proposed legislation, legalizing sports betting may soon be put into the hands of Missouri voters.
A coalition of major professional sports teams have submitted four initiative petitions aimed at legalizing sports betting for consideration on the 2024 ballot.
Members of this coalition include the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Blues, Kansas City Chiefs, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis CITY SC and Kansas City Current.
“The coalition believes that legal sports wagering is a way to increase engagement with our fans and provides a new source of tax revenue for the state that is currently going to adjacent states or illegal operators,” said Carson Shipley, manager of communications and public relations for the St. Louis Cardinals, in an emailed statement.
This comes after Missouri legislators once again failed to pass legislation legalizing sports betting during the 2023 session in Jefferson City. The eleventh-hour failure was due to a one-man filibuster by gubernatorial candidate and state Sen. Bill Eigel, who felt that a bill cutting personal property taxes was being held hostage by sports betting negotiations.
Two legislators, state Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer and state Rep. Dan Houx, each sponsored bills that would have allowed those who are at least 21 years old to cast bets on the outcomes of sporting matches. Missouri would have reaped 10% of each bet in taxes.
Both Luetkemeyer and Houx did not respond to requests for comment on this issue.
That was the fifth legislative session to pass by without any action on the issue, after a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down laws prohibiting sports wagering. Every state bordering Missouri, except Oklahoma, has legalized sports betting.
“Although we would prefer to achieve this goal through the legislative process and will continue to work with stakeholders to advance a responsible sports wagering law to that end, the coalition has begun work to put the issue on the ballot before Missouri voters in 2024 by filing initiative petition language with the Secretary of State’s office,” Shipley said in a statement on behalf of the St. Louis Cardinals.
If passed, these initiative petitions would allocate the tax revenue for use within Missouri’s elementary, secondary and higher education system. Those who are at least 21 years old would be allowed to cast bets through online platforms, at gambling boats and any other location deemed appropriate by professional sports teams playing in a given sports district.
According to the initiative petitions, a professional sports team is any belonging to the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, the National Basketball Association, Major League Soccer, the Women’s National Basketball Association or the National Women’s Soccer League.
The proposal requires that each facilitator of a sport wagering location or platform must be licensed by the Missouri Gaming Commission. The petitions differ in how many licenses will be available to online platforms, with the option of up to four licenses offered to online sports wagering platforms.
More: Initiative petitions came under fire in 2023. Experts forecast more of the same in 2024.
Each license applicant must pass a background check to ensure that they have never been convicted of a felony or gambling related offense. Retail licenses will cost $250,000, while mobile licenses are $500,000.
All license fees not used for sports betting-related expenses will be deposited into the Compulsive Gambling Prevention Fund, which would be created via the initiative petitions.
Missouri would still collect tax revenue equal to 10% of the wagered amount, and the petitions order that sport betting commence no later than Dec. 31, 2025, although the Missouri Gaming Commission could set an earlier date.
“We believe that this initiative petition language provides for a reasonable and responsible framework for the legalization of sports wagering that will, collectively, serve the best interests of all Missourians,” Shipley said in a statement on behalf of the St. Louis Cardinals.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Here's why sports betting could be on Missouri ballots in 2024
