Casinos, sports betting advocates clash over Missouri Amendment 2
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Several casinos have been amongst the biggest donors to an ad campaign against a sports betting initiative in Missouri after millions of dollars were spent on television ads in favor of the measure.
Amendment 2, which will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot, asks voters if they want to amend the state constitution to legalize sports betting on professional and college sports. According to the ballot language, 10% of wagering tax revenue received would go towards public schools across the state.
Currently, public schools receive some of the revenue generated from the Missouri Lottery. Data from the Missouri lottery shows $5,923,330 was given to Columbia Public Schools’ foundation transportation, classroom trust and DFS/DMH school placements for the 2024 financial year.
The efforts to pass the sports betting initiative have been led by Winning for Missouri Education. The committee, which aired its first television ad last week, is backed by six Missouri professional sports teams and has received money from sports gambling websites DraftKings and FanDuel, who have combined for $9.65 million in donations to the campaign, according to a May 20 Missouri State Ethics Commission report.
Winning for Missouri Education says it spent $1.2 million on ads for nearly every media market in Missouri, with nearly $5 million being spent on reserving air time through Nov. 5.
Jack Cardetti, a spokesperson for Winning for Missouri Education, says the group first began collecting signatures in January for an initiative petition to appear on the ballot and have received overwhelming support.
“It has a majority support among Republicans, Democrats and independents,” Cardetti said. “Quite frankly, our education system here in Missouri needs it. You know, we're 46 right now in teacher pay,”
The state estimates the tax money generated from sports gambling could reach nearly $29 million each year.
Sports betting has already been legalized in 38 states, including seven of Missouri’s eight bordering states, with Oklahoma being the only exception. However, recent studies have shown that legalized sports betting has, led to higher credit card balances, lower access to credit, fewer long-term investments, and increased lottery play, specifically in lower-income households. There has also been a steep increase in gambling addiction.
However, Cardetti argues that people in Missouri are already betting on sports and that not legalizing it will only help neighboring economies.
“We know tens of thousands of kids are already participating in sports betting. They're betting millions of dollars each and every year. They're just doing it through illegal offshore accounts or they're doing it by literally driving a block into our neighboring states, placing the bets, and then coming back over,” Cardetti said. “Neither of those makes any sense.”
This week another group, Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment has responded to Winning for Missouri Education’s efforts with a campaign of its own. The group which was formed on Tuesday, has already received a total of $4.1 million in contributions from Ceasers Entertainment Services, Tropicana St. Louis, Harrah’s North Kansas City and Isle of Capri Boonville, and will run ads in large markets.
“The proponents of Amendment 2 are making empty promises about education in order to sway voters, and Missourians deserve to know the truth about the measure,” Brooke Foster, a spokesperson for Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment said in a statement. “In reality, Amendment 2 contains no guarantees that a single penny will go to our schools.”
Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment also argues that Amendment 2 was written by out-of-state online gambling corporations who are trying to rake in “ billions of dollars while giving themselves huge tax deductions so they can avoid paying tax revenues to the State.”
