As the Kansas City Chiefs prepare for a divisional playoff battle this week towards the Buffalo Bills, residents dwelling within the Missouri half of town received’t be capable to legally wager on the sport with out heading throughout the border to the Hoosier State.
And whereas there are efforts within the legislature to vary that, a number of the space’s professional sports activities groups aren’t ready to see when, or even when that occurs. FanDuel and DraftKings have teamed up with the St. Louis Cardinals, Blues, Royals, Kansas City Chiefs, and others to carry the difficulty on to voters this November.
“While the sports wagering bills that we have supported during the past couple of years have overwhelmingly passed in the Missouri House and have also had the support of a majority of the Missouri Senate, those bills have been repeatedly blocked in the Missouri Senate and not allowed to proceed to a vote in the Missouri Senate,” St. Louis Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III mentioned.
“Therefore, as we are not optimistic that this pattern will change during the upcoming legislative session, we are currently proceeding with an initiative petition campaign to put the issue of legalized sports wagering on the ballot for Missouri voters in 2024.”
Sports Betting Plans
The state legislature is as soon as once more anticipated to think about sports activities betting within the present legislative session, which runs by May 17. However, the coalition of operators are as a substitute making an attempt to take the difficulty proper to the poll field.
“We are united in our goal of supporting the legalization of sports wagering in Missouri in a reasonable, safe and responsible way that is good for our teams, our fans, our Missouri teachers and our other citizens of Missouri,” DeWitt mentioned.
The plan calls for permitting sports wagering licenses for casinos, on-line sportsbooks, and the groups themselves with the authorized betting age set at 21. The tax charge can be 10% with a lot of state funds collected going to schooling and one other 10% towards accountable gaming efforts. Licenses for retail sportsbooks would price $250,000 and $500,000 for cell betting, with betting to start by Dec. 1, 2025, if authorised.
Every neighboring state, apart from Oklahoma, at the moment has legalized betting. The coalition estimates that Missourians wager about $2 billion a 12 months utilizing offshore operators with others driving to neighboring states to wager.
Several different states have moved towards at the very least contemplating sports activities betting legalization together with California, Oklahoma, Alabama, and extra.
