Missouri’s professional sports teams have come together to support a ballot proposal to legalize sports betting in November. The campaign received assistance from popular team mascots, including Fredbird from the Cardinals, Sluggerrr from the Royals, and Louie from the St. Louis Blues. These mascots eagerly delivered boxes filled with signatures to the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office in Jefferson City.
The initiative in Missouri is an effort to bypass the Senate, where legislation for sports betting has repeatedly stalled. Currently, only twelve states still have sports wagering illegal more than five years after the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for states to legalize it. The coalition behind the initiative includes six professional sports teams: St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Blues, Kansas City Chiefs, Kansas City Royals, and two soccer teams: Kansas City Current and St. Louis City.
If approved by voters, this proposed constitutional amendment would enable each of Missouri’s 13 casinos and six professional sports teams to offer onsite and mobile sports betting within their respective locations or areas surrounding their stadiums or arenas. Teams would be responsible for onsite betting operations and advertising within 400 yards of their facilities while two mobile sports betting operators would be licensed directly by the Missouri Gaming Commission outside of these areas or locations surrounding them respectively.
In addition to providing gambling opportunities for fans, this initiative also outlines that a minimum of $5 million annually in licensing fees and taxes will go towards problem gambling programs with any remaining tax revenues allocated towards education initiatives throughout the state regulator’s office launching sports betting operations no later than December 1st, 2025 if approved by voters on November’s ballot proposal
