Sports Betting narrowly wins in Missouri
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS — Voters narrowly approved a bid to make Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting.
Amendment 2 was approved Tuesday 50.1% to 49.9%, with all precincts reporting, according to unofficial results reported early Wednesday by the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office.
The constitutional amendment needed a simple majority to pass.
With the passages of the measure, bookmakers are expected to rake in revenues north of $500 million per year, according to one estimate. Professional sports teams like the St. Louis Cardinals, which have backed the measure, will be able to pursue lucrative partnerships with betting sites, which the teams say they need to stay competitive on the field.
Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, applauded the results in a statement Wednesday.
“Missouri has some of the best sports fans in the world and they showed up big for their favorite teams on Election Day,” DeWitt said. “On behalf of all six of Missouri’s professional sports franchises, we want to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2.”
DraftKings and FanDuel, the big online gambling platforms behind the measure, have spent big to convince Missourians to vote their way. Each dropped $20 million into a Missouri political action committee, which splurged on canvassers, consultants and media buys. Reams of television ads and billboards cast the plan as a win for public schools, which would be in line for some of the money set aside by a 10% tax on sports gambling revenues.
A former teacher, a mother of schoolchildren, and Hall of Fame Cardinals shortstop Ozzie Smith urged viewers to take advantage of an opportunity to pump $20 million or more per year into kids’ classrooms and teachers’ salaries. Even Donald Trump Jr. weighed in with an endorsement.
But the push hit opposition from Caesars Entertainment, which owns three casinos in Missouri. Concerned about competition from newcomers, the gambling giant has spent millions of its own money to brand the ballot initiative as a taxpayer heist.
Its consultants seized on a provision in the legalization plan that would allow gambling operators to deduct many promotional costs, which the state auditor’s office said could drop annual tax revenue to zero. They pointed out that even the most optimistic tax revenue estimates, between $20 million-$40 million per year, would hardly revolutionize the state’s multibillion-dollar education budget.
The amendment’s backers dismissed the opposition as sour grapes from one of the largest gambling companies in the world. They emphasized that Missourians were already wagering on sports in neighboring states, where it’s legal, and said it would be silly not to claw at least some money back.
It will now fall to the Missouri Gaming Commission to license operators, prepare regulations and set a start date for betting to begin. The constitutional amendment says that date can be no later than Dec. 1, 2025.
Bookmakers would be required to pay licensing fees of $250,000 to $500,000, renewable every five years.
Licenses would be available to online sports wagering platforms, existing casinos and within “sports districts,” defined as professional sports teams’ stadiums and the surrounding area 400 yards in each direction, a specification that would take in Ballpark Village around Busch Stadium.
In other states, baseball teams like the Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks have taken advantage of such allowances to set up sportsbooks right outside their stadiums.
