Missouri's Pivotal 2024 Sports Betting Legalization Push

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00:00Each and every day we have a guest contributor from Legal Sports Report.

00:06Last couple of years, whoever has been the contributor on our show, we spent a lot of

00:09time talking about the legalization of sports betting going on across the country.

00:13It's been a really easy and topical discussion, but 2024 has definitely not been the case.

00:21We have not seen a ton of movement for the legalization of sports betting with these

00:26remaining states.

00:27But there is hope, as we bring in Pat Evans from Legal Sports Report, that maybe, just

00:33maybe, Missouri is the big story for 2024.

00:36We're going to find out in early November.

00:38Pat, welcome back to the show.

00:41Not a surprise that we're seeing these sports betting operators go all in on Missouri because

00:45they got no one else to go all in on.

00:49I mean, you're right.

00:50You're right.

00:51The last couple of years, it was like a waterfall of states legalizing, and it just seemed like

00:55a natural thing to have four or five states coming online and sportsbooks celebrating

01:01and bettors rejoicing and being happy they can finally bet on their favorite teams.

01:06This year, it's been quiet.

01:08It's kind of a slide from last year, too, because you had a couple, all the low-hanging

01:13fruits gone.

01:14Now we're going high in the tree.

01:16You got Georgia and Minnesota.

01:18Those are states where we'll see, I don't know, maybe some action next year.

01:22In Missouri, of course, we've had very close calls legislatively the last couple of years.

01:27A really strong bill backed by all the casinos and sportsbooks and sports teams in Missouri

01:33that got through the House and then fell short in the Senate because of a senator who wanted

01:37to include video lottery terminals.

01:39Now we've got this huge ballot initiative led by the sports teams that have, you know,

01:45they got, went out, got a ton of petition signatures, got it on the ballot.

01:48We've seen a lawsuit.

01:50Now an opposition campaign that was funded by Caesars, you know, $4 million to that campaign

01:56that's running in opposition of the ballot question.

01:59But big news last week is FanDuel and DraftKings poured another $10 million into the campaign

02:09that's for the ballot question.

02:11And that's, you know, they released their first ad, I think it was a week ago, week

02:15and a half ago, kind of touting what this tax money can do because it's, you know, the

02:20campaign's called Winning for Missouri Education.

02:22There's a huge budget shortage for education in Missouri.

02:26And so they're thinking, you know, 10% of sports betting wagers revenue can go to education

02:32in Missouri.

02:33That's a new study just came out last week that says that's about $100 million over the

02:38next five years.

02:39So nothing to sneeze at for sure for education in Missouri.

02:42But together now DraftKings and FanDuel have contributed $21.5 million to this campaign.

02:48So they're very keen on getting this done, as you can imagine.

02:53What that means for the other casinos, you know, there's only one skin per casino, which

02:57is, you know, a big reason why Caesars is probably opposing this.

03:02They don't like that there's two untethered licenses that would likely go to DraftKings

03:06and FanDuel.

03:07So they're just kind of coming into the market unchecked.

03:10So yeah, it's kind of an interesting battle we're going to see in the next month and a

03:15half until Election Day and kind of the ads, you know, maybe a little bit different than

03:20the presidential ads you're going to be seeing in Missouri.

03:23And the reason I think they're pouring so much money into this is the polls are still

03:29kind of split.

03:30I mean, you've got 50-52% in the last two polls, four, then you've got 20% undecided.

03:37So that 20% is huge.

03:39I mean, it is a simple majority that they need, so 50.1%.

03:43So if the polls are right, they'll probably be okay.

03:46But as we all know, polls can be deceiving.

03:49So DraftKings and FanDuel are just spending money to make sure they get enough votes and

03:54that they get into Missouri.

03:56And again, we'll see a fun little fight here from some sportsbook operators in Missouri.

04:04Just to follow up on this real quick, did you say the tax rate for Missouri was 10%?

04:08Yes.

04:09I think I caught that.

04:10Okay.

04:11So that's their number.

04:12So a lower number than some of the others, right?

04:15Certainly lower than a lot of other states have come online in recent years.

04:18I mean, we've seen Illinois just bump up their rate from 10% to 20%.

04:23You know, of course, New York's got their 51%.

04:26So yeah, it is a fairly low tax rate comparatively.

04:29So you know, we'll see what that means ultimately, but yeah, pretty low.

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