Sports Betting Debate Back in Missouri
Over 30 states throughout the country now have legal sports betting, but Missouri has not been able to join that group up to this point. Lawmakers in Missouri have made several different attempts at passing a bill, but there has always been too many arguments to get anything passed.
There is no longer a path to getting a bill passed in 2022, but this will be a key talking point when the state legislature meets to begin 2023. It was all but confirmed in a Tweet sent out by Republican Senator Caleb Rowden earlier this week.
Several different groups have all joined the fight for sports betting in Missouri, but that is part of the problem. Disagreements about who should control this industry, and what the tax rate should be have kept a bill from seriously getting close to passing.
One thing that has made this an even more important conversation is the fact that the state of Kansas was able to legalize and launch sports betting this year. Both online and retail sports betting in Kansas launched on September 1, and that is going to take money from Missouri.
Both states were in a competition to get to the finish line first, but Kansas was able to win after Missouri failed to get there at all. Missouri also has to worry about both Kentucky and Oklahoma legalizing sports betting in 2023 as each state has made similar attempts in the past as well.
Nearly the entire Midwest now has legal sports betting of some kind and Missouri is the outlier.
Missouri Residents Want In
If the lawmakers in Missouri were looking for any additional ammo in this sports betting debate, GeoComply has produced some data that could come in handy. Some Missouri residents crossed over into Kansas to place bets on September 1, while others attempted to do so illegally.
According to information from GeoComply, there were over 16,000 instances where bettors attempted to place an illegal bet in Missouri during the first weekend of live betting in Kansas. Most of those attempts came from residents in Kansas City, but that information makes it clear that Missouri bettors want in on the action.
Professional Teams Back the Initiative
When the threat of legal sports betting was first brought up in the United States, professional teams and leagues fought back. That is no longer the case at all and a coalition of professional sports teams from the state of Missouri actually tried to fight for this issue.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Royals are both expected to help push legal sports in the state of Kansas despite being located in Missouri. The St. Louis Blues and Cardinals are two of the biggest franchises in the state, and would help boost numbers in Missouri.
It’s unclear if these teams would be able to offer sports betting in Missouri, but it could be a point of debate.
