Missouri Sports Betting Campaign Costs Exceed $54M, State Referendum Record
By the time Election Day arrives next Tuesday, the campaigns related to the Missouri sports betting referendum will have together spent over $54 million.
In addition to voting for the next president of the United States, residents of Missouri will express their opinions on expanding gambling in the Show-Me State to allow wagers on professional and college sports.
On Monday, the Missouri Ethics Commission released the last set of state campaign finance records before the November 5 election.
The financial report for Winning for Missouri Education, the committee supporting the Amendment 2 initiative with funding from pro-sports betting, indicates that the campaign has collected $40.75 million since it started in January. The committee obtained $19.2 million between October 1 and October 28. DraftKings and FanDuel accounted for the entire $19.2 million.
Winning for Missouri Education alone established a new record for the highest amount of money ever collected for a ballot referendum in the state. The former record stood at $31 million when a campaign rallying Missourians to support an initiative safeguarding stem cell research succeeded in 2006. The inquiry into stem cell research was represented by Amendment 2 in the 2006 election.
Campaign Expenditures by Opponents
The $40.75 million collected by the pro-sports betting campaign does not represent all the funds linked to the 2024 Amendment 2 issue. Caesars Entertainment, managing Harrah’s North Kansas City, Horseshoe St. Louis, and Isle of Capri Boonville, opposes Amendment 2, arguing that the state’s suggested sports betting rules would not deliver the promised funding for education.
Caesars' representatives indicate that the amendment permitting sportsbooks to subtract promotional bets provided to attract new clients and ongoing free bets to keep them could diminish the state's tax advantage for public education. Critics argue that Caesars' real motive for opposing Amendment 2 is that it would permit non-casino operators and enable sportsbook giants DraftKings and FanDuel to potentially run online without being linked to a casino through a revenue-sharing deal.
Caesars' initiative opposing Amendment 2 — Missourians Against the Misleading Online Gambling Amendment — has brought in almost $14.2 million. Caesars’ trio of casinos in Missouri donated $10 million in October.
Details of Sports Wagering
If Amendment 2 is approved, Missouri's 13 casinos will receive one chance for a retail and online sportsbook. The professional sports stadiums and arenas in the state would be given equal opportunities. Two additional online sportsbook skins would also receive authorization.
Online licenses would be priced at $500,000, while retail permits would be $250,000 every five years. Missouri would take 10% of the earnings from sports betting regardless of the source of the bets.
The language of the referendum contains a clause stating that sportsbooks may deduct as much as 25% of the free bets they provide to customers from their tax obligations.
State financial officials think Missouri could gain nearly $29 million annually from sports wagering. The actual advantage, however, would rely on the quantity of free bets that the operators offer their clients.
The initial $5 million annually collected by the state from bookmakers would be allocated to the state’s Compulsive Gambling Prevention Fund. The leftover advantage would be allocated to K-12 public schools and post-secondary education.
Missouri is among just two states that share borders with eight other states. Among those neighbors, every state except Oklahoma has some type of legal sports wagering. Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Kansas offer mobile sports wagering. Nebraska restricts sports wagering to on-site at its racetrack casinos.