Missourians will vote on legalizing sports betting after ballot measure certified

Missouri voters will decide in November whether to legalize sports betting as state lawmakers have tried and failed to pass similar legislation.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft on Tuesday certified for the Nov. 5 ballot a constitutional amendment that asks voters whether to legalize and tax betting on major sporting events.

Ashcroft, a Republican, found that the sports betting campaign had collected enough valid signatures. His office did not immediately release the number of signatures. The signatures were verified by election officials across the state.

The campaign, called Winning for Missouri Education, is backed by every major professional sports team in Missouri and has raised more than $6.5 million, including high-dollar donations from the biggest mobile sports betting operators, FanDuel and DraftKings.

The campaign said it dropped off more than 340,000 signatures in May to force a statewide vote.

The effort comes after similar efforts have languished for years in the General Assembly amid bitter infighting among Senate Republicans.

The proposed constitutional amendment would allow the Kansas City Chiefs, Kansas City Royals, Kansas City Current, St. Louis Blues, St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis City SC, to have a license to receive bets on games and other outcomes. It would also allow the state’s casino operators to be eligible for a license as well as two online betting platforms.

Missouri would tax sports betting at 10% under the proposal with $5 million allocated to a fund intended to help prevent compulsive gambling. The remaining money, as the coalition’s name implies, would go to public schools and higher education.

A fiscal note attached to the measure estimates that the state revenue generated from legalized sports betting ranges from nothing to $28.9 million each year.

A majority of Missourians appear to support legalized sports betting. Polling released in March found that 60% of likely voters believe that betting on professional sports should be legalized while 25% were opposed. The remaining 14% said they were not sure.

Sports betting supporters have regularly pointed to the fact that Missouri has missed out on millions in revenue, especially after Kansas launched legal wagering in 2022. Missourians have crossed state lines into neighboring Kansas and Illinois to place their bets.

But legalized sports betting still has its detractors. A separate poll released last year had cast doubt on the popularity of sports gambling statewide.

In 2022, the New York Times published an investigation into the gambling industry, finding that the sports betting industry had devised ways to persuade people to keep betting even after they lose money.

The newspaper also reported that tools to make it easier to quit — some run by gambling companies, others by states — did not always work. In Indiana, for example, people who sought the government’s help to prevent them from gambling found that they were still able to place bets.

However, the debate in Missouri has largely not centered on those philosophically opposed to gambling. Legislation to legalize sports betting has instead been bogged down by a dispute over video lottery terminals.

The casino-like slot machines have spread across the state in recent years at gas stations, truck stops, and fraternal organizations and exist in a legal gray area. Lawmakers have disagreed about whether a sports betting bill should also regulate and tax the gas station slots.

The proposed constitutional amendment would only legalize sports betting and does not address the gas station slots.

Missouri voters will also decide in November whether to overturn the state’s ban on abortion and raise minimum wage. Ashcroft’s office certified both measures on Tuesday.