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Sports Betting Ballot Initiatives Laws & Regulations

Missouri Sports Teams File Sports Betting Ballot Initiatives

By Lisa Spencer Senior Editor Updated: 20 September 2023

Lisa Spencer Senior Editor

As a Senior Editor at Betting.US, Lisa Spencer is a valuable member of our expert team. With a Master’s degree in Applied Mathematics, Lisa is adept in gambling theory and analyzing odds. She contributes by writing online sportsbook reviews and finding competitive markets to help our readers make an informed choice.

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Several sports teams in Missouri have now taken the first step towards legalizing sports betting in the state. Tired of waiting for lawmakers to legalize betting, these six teams, including reigning Super Bowl champions the Kansas City Chiefs and MLB teams the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals, have together filed four proposals to legalize sports betting through a referendum. The other three teams involved in the coalition are the St. Louis Blues, Sporting St. Louis, and Kansas City Current.

To trigger a referendum, one or more of the proposals will need to collect 180,000 signatures from Missouri residents, which shouldn’t be too challenging in a traditionally sports-mad state. If a proposal did go to a referendum, it would simply need a majority of voters to vote in favor in order to alter the state’s constitution.

Cardinals president Bill DeWitt III has also informed reporters that the coalition of teams is also willing to bankroll the entire sports betting initiative. This is driven by the fact that states with legalized betting have seen an increase in engagement and interest from fans.

DeWitt also stated that they’d continue to push state legislature to legalize sports betting. He said:

We’ll continue to push in the legislature, but in the last few years, we keep running into a brick wall despite having really good numbers in terms of those who support the issue.

Missouri is bordered by seven other states, six of which – Nebraska, Kentucky, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, and Arkansas – have legal sports betting. The only neighboring state without legal betting is Oklahoma.

Video Lottery Terminals Hampering Legislation

There have been several efforts to legalize sports betting in Missouri. Most recently, a sports betting statute easily passed through the House of Representatives. But it failed to progress through the Senate, with Sen. Denny Hoskins (R-Warrensburg) being the reason.

Hoskins doesn’t necessarily oppose betting. Instead, he thinks that, if betting is legalized, so too should be video lottery terminals, which often appear in places like convenience stores. He has been unwavering on his stance that he will oppose sports betting unless VLT regulation also happens.

Hoskins is now running to be Secretary of State in 2024, according to The Missouri Times. Should he be appointed, he’d be in an even stronger position to resist calls for legal sports betting in the state.

The Missouri General Assembly has now adjourned for the year and is due to reconvene in Jefferson City in January of next year.

Legalization Doesn’t Necessarily Lead to Sports Betting

Of course, even if sports betting were legalized, there is no guarantee that the government would follow this by implementing legal betting. Instead, they could ignore the wishes of the people, just as they did when they didn’t expand Medicaid, despite residents voting for it to happen.

If sports betting is legalized in Missouri, it will then be up to lawmakers to introduce the necessary legislation to implement it. This would include legislation on specifics such as the tax rate charged to sportsbooks and how many sportsbooks would be permitted.