Facing a strong opposition campaign, voters barely approved Missouri sports betting at the polls Tuesday.
Missouri voters made the Show Me State the 39th US market to legalize sports betting Tuesday. The amendment passed with just over 50% of the vote.
Under Amendment 2, Missouri sports betting must launch by Dec. 1, 2025, but will likely do so before then.
“This is a huge victory for Missouri fans and for the diverse coalition that worked together to pass Amendment 2,” Sports Betting Alliance President Jeremy Kudon said in a statement. “Amendment 2 won even despite a historic $14 million spent in opposition — the most ever spent against a Missouri initiative. We are grateful to the Missouri professional sports teams who helped lead this effort and for the broad coalition that made this possible.”
Big push for Missouri sports betting
The state’s six professional teams launched the sports betting initiative last year following multiple legislative failures.
DraftKings and FanDuel funneled more than $40 million into the ballot campaign. Five of the state’s teams each contributed slightly more than $300,000.
“Missouri has some of the best sports fans in the world, and they showed up big for their favorite teams on Election Day,” St. Louis Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III 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. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax revenue to our neighboring states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 means a new, dedicated, permanent funding stream for Missouri classrooms.”
Historic opposition campaign
While DraftKings and FanDuel supported the initiative, Caesars fueled a massive opposition to the amendment. Sources told LSR the company was unhappy with the ballot language, which seemingly provides just one license to each of the six casino operators in the state.
A Missouri Gaming Commission spokesperson told LSR the MGC interprets the language to give each of the state’s 13 casinos a license. That could correspond with the Caesars-backed campaign withdrawing its ads three weeks ahead of the election.
Caesars and its three casinos donated more than $14 million to the opposition campaign. Previously, the most ever spent against a Missouri ballot initiative was $3 million.
Additionally, the opposition campaign was also tied to a mysterious lawsuit that challenged the validity of the ballot question.
How Missouri sports betting sets up
The amendment legalizes in-person and online sports betting licenses for the state’s casinos and sports teams with two untethered online sportsbooks.
The question sets a 10% tax on sports betting revenue.
Recent LSR analysis projects sports betting could generate up to $4.5 billion annually in handle and $500 million in operator revenue.
The post Missouri Sports Betting Squeaks Through On Ballot appeared first on Legal Sports Report.