Missouri Sports Teams Want to Put Sports Betting in Hands of Voters

May 30, 2023; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas (39) pitches against the Kansas City Royals during the eighth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY SportsSix Missouri sports teams have started collecting signatures to place a sports betting initiative on the state’s November general election ballotSignatures were collected at the St. Louis Cardinals Care Winter Warm-Up at Busch Stadium and the St. Louis Blues hockey game over the weekendFanDuel and DraftKings are supporting the campaign with financial donations

With Missouri sports betting legislation likely being bogged down again this year, six Missouri sports teams want to put sports betting legalization into the hands of state voters.

The St. Louis Blues, Kansas City Chiefs, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis CITY SC, and the Kansas City Current started collecting the necessary 171,592 verified signatures to place a sports betting initiative on the state’s November general election ballot.

While the coalition submitted eight possible initiative petitions to the Missouri Secretary of State, the petition being circulated to state voters will set the sports betting tax rate at 10%, allow state teams and casinos to operate retail and online sports betting.

Missouri’s Sports Betting Quagmire

The coalition started to gather signatures over this past weekend at the St. Louis Cardinals Care Winter Warm-Up at Busch Stadium and Ballpark Village and St. Louis Blues home hockey games at the Enterprise Center.

“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, in a press release. “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.”

The legislative process has been bogged down over the last several years through in-fighting between state political leaders about the potential legalization of video lottery terminals (VLTs). A contingency of Missouri legislators will not accept the legalization of sports betting without the legalization of VLTs, and have vowed to block any potential sports betting bill that does not also include the legalization of the gambling machines found in restaurants, rest stops, and gas stations throughout the Show Me State.

In fact, two sports betting bills have already been filed. Senators Denny Hoskins (R-21) and Tony Luetkemeyer (R-34) both filed sports betting bills in Missouri two weeks, which are both similar to bills they filed last year. Luetkemeyer’s bill, SB 852, will legalize online and retail sports betting in the Show Me State, but does not include VLTs. Hoskins bill, SB 824, the Missouri Returning Heroes Education Act, will feature similar sports betting legalization to  Luetkemeyer’s bill, but also legalize video lottery terminals in the state.

Hoskins has been the main proponent of VLT legalization over the past several years and will likely filibuster any standalone sports betting bills this session.

“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 said in a press release.

Sports Betting Giants Financially Backing Effort

The Winning for Missouri Education campaign committee has been established with the Missouri Ethics Committee. Last week, both FanDuel and DraftKings donated $250,000 each to the campaign committee to support the ballot initiative.

Both sports betting operators would be well in the mix for licenses in the state. According to the petition, each Missouri sports team and casino will be eligible to operate retail and online sports betting. Each sports team and casino would be eligible for one retail sports betting license through the bill.

Additionally, each sports team and casino would be eligible for one online sports betting license. Each team and casino would be able to partner with one online sports betting operator.

To be placed on the ballot at least 8% of registered voters’ signatures in six of eight Missouri districts must be collected, which is a minimum of 171,592 signatures.