By John Murphy
A coalition of Missouri professional sports franchises submitted more than 340,000 petition signatures to the secretary of state’s office on May 2 to try to put the legalization of sports gambling on the November ballot.
The teams, which established a committee called Winning for Missouri Education, have turned to the initiative petition process after years of having sports gambling bills struck down in the General Assembly.
The signatures are from more than 8% of registered voters in at least six of the eight congressional districts in Missouri.
The proposed measure would add sports wagering to the state Constitution if approved by voters. It includes granting licenses to the teams, casinos and online websites, such as FanDuel and DraftKings.
