Missouri House starts debate on sports betting bills under support of casinos, pro teams coalition

Efforts to bring sports betting to Missouri are gaining momentum again at the legislature as the Missouri House Special Committee on Public Policy held a public hearing Tuesday on two sports betting bills, HB 2502 and HB 2556.

During the meeting, the committee analyzed the potential benefits and drawbacks of legalizing the market, while also receiving input from sports betting stakeholders. Bills HB 2556 and HB 2502, sponsored by Rep. Phil Christofanelli and Rep. Dan Houx, seek to fund schools by employing the revenue generated by sportsbooks.

“This bill is more than a sportsbook, it’s a revenue generator,” Houx said on Tuesday, according to Columbia Missourian. Prior efforts to legalize the profitable vertical in the Show Me State failed, partly because they were often tied to video gaming terminal (VGT) legislation. However, this time around, there is a new sense of urgency on legalizing the market.

“Sports gambling is occurring right now in the state of Missouri, and there are none of these protections that are accompanying that type of activity,” Christofanelli said. In addition to losing money to the black market, Missouri is also losing out on revenue to neighboring states including Illinois, Iowa and Tennessee. Meanwhile, Arkansas is set to expand to mobile next month, while Kansas legislators are pushing for legalization this year.

According to a new legislative analysis, legalized sports betting could generate more than $15.3 million in tax revenue for the state, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. A House Bill analysis shows potential income toward schools would range from $7.8 million to $15.3 million. The estimates are based on the tax rate in the legislation filed by Christofanelli.

What has changed from prior legalization attempts is that now the push counts with support from a coalition of both casinos and pro sports teams, as stakeholders agreed in January to lobby together. “It’s time to get it done,” Rep. Houx said last week. “It was huge to get the coalition together.”

Backers of the bill include the six pro sports teams in St. Louis and Kansas City, major online sportsbook operators and five of the state’s six casinos companies, except for Boyd Gaming, which opposes an official league data mandate.

The sports betting proposal features retail sports betting for the 13 casinos in the state, while stadiums could have sports betting lounges but without retail windows or kiosks. A total of 39 mobile skins would be made available to both casino operators and pro teams. The tax rate is being proposed at a low 10% in one of the bills, while another sets it at 21%.

While legislators are still seeking to rid the state of unregulated VGTs and illegal slot machines, lawmakers have decided this time to tackle the issue in a separate bill. More than 20 bills featuring some form of sports betting have been filed in Missouri since 2019.

In addition to the aforementioned official league data requirement and final tax rate, there are still other issues to be tackled in conversations going forward, including the role the Missouri Gaming Commission and the Missouri Lottery would have within the new market. Moreover, Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg is seeking a prohibition barring betting on high school sports and prop bets, which permit in-game wagering.