On November’s ballot, Missouri voters will be asked to decide whether mobile sports betting will be part of their future, and those running for the state’s highest office believe it should be.
Gov Candidates Want to Gamble
Republican Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe and his gubernatorial opponents, Democrat Representative Crystal Quade, as well as longshot Libertarian candidate Bill Slantz have all announced they are in favor of mobile sports betting in the Show Me State.
That show of support comes at a critical time, only six weeks before the referendum on mobile sports betting in which more than 50% of the electorate must approve Amendment 2, which would pave the way for legal sports betting in Missouri.
“We are honored that the two leading candidates to be Missouri’s next chief executive both endorse legalizing sports betting as a new permanent, dedicated funding source for our classrooms and plan to vote yes on Amendment 2,” Winning for Missouri Education spokesperson Jack Cardetti said in a press release.
According to polls conducted earlier this year, the pendulum has shifted in favor of sports betting. Industry insider and writer, Nick Beare, spoke recently about those polls, stating:
“The third poll, which Fox 4/Emerson College conducted in January 2024, surveyed 1,830 registered voters, and found much different results. Sixty-two percent of participants said they would support an initiative to legalize sports betting, while 38% said they would vote no. The fourth poll, which SLU/YouGov conducted from Feb. 14 to 26, 2024, surveyed 900 likely voters on various political issues. Sixty percent of those polled said they would support legalizing sports betting, 25% opposed it, and 14% were unsure.”
PAC Proponent
The political action committee, Winning for Missouri Education, has some very powerful allies in the form of Missouri’s six professional sports teams including the Cardinals, Royals, Chiefs, Blues, Current, and City FC. But the PAC has also seen $10 million donated to it by industry leaders FanDuel and DraftKings.
Winning for Missouri Education is a cleverly designed marketing campaign to alert Missourians that most of the taxes from the state’s 10% cut of sportsbook revenues will be earmarked for Missouri’s public educational system. This means less money will come out of the taxpayers’ wallets and will also allow those who want to make a bet on sports the freedom to do so instead of crossing the border and lining the pockets of neighboring states that do allow sports betting.
Ryan Butler, a journalist who has been covering the sports betting saga in Missouri, stated, “Missouri residents spending their money in Illinois and Kansas specifically, (plus) Iowa, Arkansas, every state but Oklahoma, has sports books that border Missouri,” he noted. “The idea is trying to corral that and keep those tax dollars in the state of Missouri.”
Counter Campaign
But recently a new coalition has formed and one that is against the legalization of sports betting in Missouri, calling itself Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment. The campaign’s spokesperson, Brooke Foster, stated that the sports betting initiative is a “bad deal for Missouri” and believes that it “was written by and for the financial benefit of its out-of-state corporate sponsors and funders.”
Nevertheless, the scales are tipping in favor of sports betting being approved by the voters on November 5th but there is still plenty of time for people to change their minds between now and then.
