- Joined
- Jan 17, 2008
- Messages
- 85,695
Source/Full Story - GamingAmerica'
Gaming America's Laura Mack takes a look back at Missouri's move towards legal Sports Betting, which faces delays.
Missouri is on track to become the 39th state to welcome a legal Sports Betting market after voters approved
a legalization ballot measure in November.
Gaming America examines the state’s progress and highlights key moments during Missouri’s journey toward expanded
gambling, even if recent delays have altered the prospective timeline.
Welcoming Sports Betting within Missouri’s borders has involved several steps in the legal process, including bringing the
matter before voters during the last election. Missouri law allows the Gaming Commission to distribute 13 gaming licenses.
However, these can only go to gaming facilities that are located on the Missouri River and Mississippi River.
Mixed views of the ballot measure
Last year, the St. Louis City Democratic Central Committee agreed to support state and city ballot questions addressed to voters.
Winning for Missouri Education was one of the groups that supported Amendment 2 and maintained that making room for a sports
betting market could bring in funding for education around the state.
However, Amendment 2, which addressed whether the state of Missouri will welcome Sports Betting within its borders, was not part
of the measures the committee said it would support. Amendment 2 was an attempt to amend the state’s Constitution and allow legal
Sports Betting through online platforms, casinos and professional sports teams. The proposal would also implement a 10% tax on Sports Betting revenue.
But not everyone was in favor of Amendment 2 as presented, which resulted in opposition and debate last summer.The Attorney
General candidate Elad Gross pushed back against the proposal because of concern that a legalized Sports Betting market might
not generate enough tax revenue to fund problem gambling resources, according to local news sources.
The Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment also voiced concerns. The petition to put Amendment
2 before voters in November was questioned, specifically around whether it had gained the required number of signatures.
By May, though, professional sports teams around the state had collected more than 340,000 signatures on a petition to bring the market to Missouri.
The issue of petition signatures
During August, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s office confirmed that Amendment 2 will be on the ballot.In addition to the
Sports Betting amendment, another ballot campaign sought to collect signatures in support of allowing a new casino near Lake
of the Ozarks. However, the Secretary of State noted that the new casino proposal failed to gain enough signatures.
Weeks of debate followed on whether voters would have a say on Amendment 2. After intense discussion regarding whether
a petition to put the issue on November’s ballot was valid, Missouri Judge Daniel Green, a Circuit Court Judge in Cole County,
struck down an attempt to invalidate the petition.
This gave Missouri voters a chance to pull the lever in favor of a legal Sports Betting market. November’s ballot also received record-setting funding.
Mobile operators DraftKings and FanDuel contributed $43m toward the measure’s support. However, Caesars Entertainment
helped to fund the opposition campaign by contributing $14m. In addition to legalized Sports Betting, voters would have a
voice in whether a new casino would be welcome near Lake of the Ozarks.Indeed, the Court found that the petition for
Amendment 5 also had the required number of signatures.
The people have spoken
The vote to authorize Sports Betting in Missouri was a close one during election night. The ballot measure initially received
50.05% approval after votes state-wide were counted. However, more votes in favor of Amendment 2 continued to come in
as Christian County wrapped up its counting process. The Christian County Clerk added 9,800 votes to its previously submitted
certified total. The additional votes tallied came from mail-in, absentee and provisional ballots.
Clerk Paula Brumfield had postponed the count on election night because shutting down the machines that night to count votes
“would have erased all of the ballot data,” according to local news reports. She said the County did not report the results right away
because it did not expect a high turnout and had run out of machines.
“We just did not have another machine to feed those provisional and those military in, so we had to keep those machines open to
be able to feed them to be counted,” Brumfield told local news.
Gaming America's Laura Mack takes a look back at Missouri's move towards legal Sports Betting, which faces delays.
Missouri is on track to become the 39th state to welcome a legal Sports Betting market after voters approved
a legalization ballot measure in November.
Gaming America examines the state’s progress and highlights key moments during Missouri’s journey toward expanded
gambling, even if recent delays have altered the prospective timeline.
Welcoming Sports Betting within Missouri’s borders has involved several steps in the legal process, including bringing the
matter before voters during the last election. Missouri law allows the Gaming Commission to distribute 13 gaming licenses.
However, these can only go to gaming facilities that are located on the Missouri River and Mississippi River.
Mixed views of the ballot measure
Last year, the St. Louis City Democratic Central Committee agreed to support state and city ballot questions addressed to voters.
Winning for Missouri Education was one of the groups that supported Amendment 2 and maintained that making room for a sports
betting market could bring in funding for education around the state.
However, Amendment 2, which addressed whether the state of Missouri will welcome Sports Betting within its borders, was not part
of the measures the committee said it would support. Amendment 2 was an attempt to amend the state’s Constitution and allow legal
Sports Betting through online platforms, casinos and professional sports teams. The proposal would also implement a 10% tax on Sports Betting revenue.
But not everyone was in favor of Amendment 2 as presented, which resulted in opposition and debate last summer.The Attorney
General candidate Elad Gross pushed back against the proposal because of concern that a legalized Sports Betting market might
not generate enough tax revenue to fund problem gambling resources, according to local news sources.
The Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment also voiced concerns. The petition to put Amendment
2 before voters in November was questioned, specifically around whether it had gained the required number of signatures.
By May, though, professional sports teams around the state had collected more than 340,000 signatures on a petition to bring the market to Missouri.
The issue of petition signatures
During August, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s office confirmed that Amendment 2 will be on the ballot.In addition to the
Sports Betting amendment, another ballot campaign sought to collect signatures in support of allowing a new casino near Lake
of the Ozarks. However, the Secretary of State noted that the new casino proposal failed to gain enough signatures.
Weeks of debate followed on whether voters would have a say on Amendment 2. After intense discussion regarding whether
a petition to put the issue on November’s ballot was valid, Missouri Judge Daniel Green, a Circuit Court Judge in Cole County,
struck down an attempt to invalidate the petition.
This gave Missouri voters a chance to pull the lever in favor of a legal Sports Betting market. November’s ballot also received record-setting funding.
Mobile operators DraftKings and FanDuel contributed $43m toward the measure’s support. However, Caesars Entertainment
helped to fund the opposition campaign by contributing $14m. In addition to legalized Sports Betting, voters would have a
voice in whether a new casino would be welcome near Lake of the Ozarks.Indeed, the Court found that the petition for
Amendment 5 also had the required number of signatures.
The people have spoken
The vote to authorize Sports Betting in Missouri was a close one during election night. The ballot measure initially received
50.05% approval after votes state-wide were counted. However, more votes in favor of Amendment 2 continued to come in
as Christian County wrapped up its counting process. The Christian County Clerk added 9,800 votes to its previously submitted
certified total. The additional votes tallied came from mail-in, absentee and provisional ballots.
Clerk Paula Brumfield had postponed the count on election night because shutting down the machines that night to count votes
“would have erased all of the ballot data,” according to local news reports. She said the County did not report the results right away
because it did not expect a high turnout and had run out of machines.
“We just did not have another machine to feed those provisional and those military in, so we had to keep those machines open to
be able to feed them to be counted,” Brumfield told local news.
