Missouri Sports Betting Referendum Reaches Ballot, Ozarks Casino Plan Sinks

The fate of Missouri becoming a legal sports betting state rests in the hands of voters come November.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) on Tuesday announced that a citizen-led referendum campaign had met the signature requirement threshold to certify the constitutional amendment question for the November 5 ballot.

Ashcroft, who unsuccessfully ran to be the Republican Party s gubernatorial nominee earlier this year, said his office validated more than the 171,592 signatures across six of the eight state congressional districts needed for the sports betting question rallied by a campaign called Winning for Missouri Education to go before voters during the presidential election.

Show-Me State voters this fall will be asked if they support allowing the Missouri Gaming Commission to issue sports betting licenses to the state s 13 riverboat casinos. Each boat would be allowed to operate a retail sportsbook and an online book. A successful referendum would also create in-person sports betting privileges for the state s professional sports stadiums and arenas. Those venues would also qualify for an online sportsbook skin.

The sports betting question additionally seeks to authorize up to two online sportsbook concessions for online operators not tethered to a casino or sports venue.

The proposes charging casinos and sports stadiums $250K for retail sports betting licenses, with renewals set for every five years at the same cost. Mobile licenses would cost $500K and also run for five years.

Gross revenue generated by sportsbooks would be subject to a 10% tax regardless of whether the action was won online or in person. The state estimates that its initial licensing fee benefit would be approximately $11.75 million, and tax revenue from the gaming expansion could reach almost $29 million annually.

The first $5 million a year in state taxes from sports gambling would be allocated to fight problem gambling through the Compulsive Gambling Prevention Fund. The remaining tax benefit would go to public education.

Only people aged 21 and older would be allowed to participate in Missouri s sports betting market.

Recent polling suggests the November sports betting referendum outcome will be close. While a March poll conducted by Saint Louis University and YouGov concluded that support becoming a legal sports gambling state, a found that only 38% favored sports betting while 35% said they were opposed. About 26% said they were unsure.

A separate referendum that sought to ask Missourians to by allowing a proposed casino development on the Lake of the Ozarks failed to obtain enough signatures, said Ashcroft s office. In May, a committee called Osage River Gaming Convention claimed to have submitted .

Ashcroft, however, said Tuesday that the campaign fell short of having enough signatures validated in at least six congressional districts. Reps with Osage River Gaming Convention say they re mulling an appeal.

We are confident we have collected enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot, campaign spokesperson Ed Rhode told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Our legal team is assessing our next steps.

Osage River Gaming Convention had partnered with the Bally s Corporation in hopes of constructing a casino resort near the Bagnell Dam.