Razor-thin margin on Missouri sports betting amendment may lead to recount

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KFVS) – The Missouri Secretary of State’s office said Wednesday the voting margin for Amendment 2 was thin enough to allow for an optional recount, should the unsuccessful side request and fund one.

Still, such a count would not happen until the voting totals are certified, a process which typically takes two weeks to complete.

“Our local election authorities will spend the next two weeks going back over those numbers,” said Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft. “There are mandatory audits of at least 5% of all the ballots cast to make sure there are problems.”

With all precincts reporting, the vote count was as listed below as of this article’s publication:

YES = 1,468,306 votes (50.074%)

NO = 1,463,940 votes (49.926%)

Missouri law grants the losing side of an election the option to have a recount performed if, when all the precincts are reporting, the result is at or within a margin of 0.5%.

After the race is officially certified, the next step is to establish a set of regulations to govern the new industry.

Missouri Gaming Commission chair Jan Zimmerman said that work has already been underway.

“We wanted to be ready and so obviously, all of that research and talking to, you know, those other agencies or those other states who have sports betting that’s already taken place,” Zimmerman said.

The Amendment 2 deadline requires the MGC to establish sports betting services by December 2025.

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