MO sports teams begin the process to legalize sports betting

Missouri’s six pro teams are starting to collect signatures to legalize sports betting.

Through the initiative petition process, the St. Louis Blues, Kansas City Chiefs, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis CITY SC, and the Kansas City Current want to place the issue on the November ballot and let the Missouri voters decide.

According to the Winning for Missouri Education coalition, residents place roughly $2 billion in bets each year using offshore gaming websites or they drive to neighboring states.

According to Forbes magazine, 38 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have legalized sports betting. That figure includes seven of Missouri’s eight neighbors. Missouri lawmakers have spent years trying to get it past the finish line, only to be held up by the Missouri Senate.

The roadblock in recent years has been Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, who is running for Secretary of State. He insists that legalization of sports betting must be paired with regulating video lottery machines, which are not taxed and can be found in many Missouri bars, restaurants, and truck stops.

“On behalf of our coalition of Missouri professional sports teams, we are united in our goal of supporting the legalization of sports wagering in Missouri in a reasonable, safe and responsible way that is good for our teams, our fans, our Missouri teachers and our other citizens of Missouri,” said Bill DeWitt III, President of the St. Louis Cardinals. “We would prefer to achieve this through the legislative process. However, while the sports wagering bills that we have supported during the past couple of years have overwhelmingly passed in the Missouri House and have also had the support of a majority of the Missouri Senate, those bills have been repeatedly blocked in the Missouri Senate and not allowed to proceed to a vote in the Missouri Senate. Therefore, as we are not optimistic that this pattern will change during the upcoming legislative session, we are currently proceeding with an initiative petition campaign to put the issue of legalized sports wagering on the ballot for Missouri voters in 2024, and, beginning this week, we are launching our campaign and will be collecting signatures to support this initiative petition.”

DeWitt recently told Missourinet that he planned to explore a ballot initiative this year.

Taxes from sports betting would go towards Missouri education.