Missouri lawmakers push for legal sports betting
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Around $16 million is expected to be wagered on the Super Bowl, according to the American Gaming Association.
But despite Missouri being the home of one Super Bowl team, the state will receive none of the gambling revenue.
Sports betting is illegal in Missouri, but lawmakers have been pushing to change that for years. This year, legalizing sports betting was the first bill filed in the House of Representatives. On Wednesday, a Missouri House committee held a hearing for that bill.
House Bill 581, filed by Rep. Phil Christofanelli (R-St. Peters), would allow those who are 21 years old and older to bet on professional sports teams at licensed casinos or on smartphone applications. The bill would not include betting on college sports.
"The reality is anybody right now can download an app on their phone and participate in sports wagering, they're just doing so illegally," Christofanelli said.
Under this bill, there would be a 10% tax on net revenue made from bets. The fiscal analysis of this bill estimates it would add between $6 million-$22 million to the Missouri economy in its first year. In response to some backlash from last year, Christofanelli's bill puts aside $500,000 for gambling addiction help.
Democratic Sen. John Rizzo, who represents the area of Kansas City that includes Arrowhead Stadium, said this year is a missed opportunity for the state to reap the benefits of sports betting.
"I'm a guy just like anybody else, and I'd like to bet 50 bucks on the Chiefs every once in while, but there's no opportunity for me to do that in Missouri right now," Rizzo said. "It is a lot of just common sense things. It doesn't make sense that I can go to a casino and lose my life savings but I can't bet 50 bucks on the Chiefs to win Sunday."
Democrats and Republicans are in support of the legalization of sports betting. Rizzo said the hold-up in past years was the competition between casinos and video lottery terminals.
"The fight is always between the casinos who want sports books and the video lottery terminal operators who want to be made fully fledged legal," Rizzo said. "Every year we end up in a standoff. One side won't let the other side get their legislation passed. Hopefully, we can traverse that gauntlet this year and finally get it done."
Lawmakers are more hopeful about the bill passing this year since it was introduced and brought into committee earlier than in the past.
"It's actually in a better place than it has been in years past in regards to how it's moving through the process," Rizzo said. "Hopefully we'll be able to have that debate sooner rather than later. I think a lot of the detriment to it passing is that it hasn't been brought up before near the end of session."
At Wednesday's hearing, a representative from the Chiefs was in support of the bill. Representatives from the Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Blues, Kansas City Current, Sporting KC and the St. Louis Cardinals were all in favor of sports betting.
A representative for athletes of those teams, however, spoke out against this particular piece of legislation.
"There are things we think you can do to help concerns about interaction between disgruntled fans and players," said Steve Fehr, who serves as Special Counsel to the NHL Players' Association.
The House Emerging Issues committee will vote on whether to send the bill to the full chamber next week.
