Missouri House passes sports betting bill, but plan could face stiff opposition in Senate

The Missouri House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill Monday to legalize retail and online sports wagering in the Show-Me State. At the session, Republicans sided with casino companies to defeat Democratic amendments seeking higher taxes and limits on promotional costs. The legislation, which is also favored by Missouri pro sports franchises, now awaits a formal roll-call vote, expected later this week, to send it to the Missouri Senate.

The bill given first-round approval is almost identical to the industry-negotiated bill that has been debated over the past two years, points out the Missouri Independent. It would allow each licensed casino to offer customers over the age of 21 to wager through three betting platforms, or skins, with a limit of six per casino company. Additionally, each of the major league sports teams could contract with a platform to offer wagering branded under their name.

Customers would be able to place bets from anywhere within the state via sports wagering applications or their computers. The net winnings of sports betting, calculated after deductions for promotional costs such as free bets intended to draw gamblers, would be taxed at 10%. Democrats tried but failed to bump the tax rate higher and to limit or remove the deduction for promotion costs, bringing the rate more in line with the 21% paid by casinos on their winnings.

Bill sponsor Rep. Dan Houx, R-Warrensburg, argued against any effort to alter the bill. It already faces stiff opposition in the Senate, he said as per the cited source, and the House needed to show it is united. The biggest obstacle sports betting will face in the Senate is a plan to also allow video lottery games in bars, restaurants and truck stops, which some lawmakers want to pass on the same bill – but sports wagering supporters want their proposal to pass on its own.

As for the much-debated deduction for promotional costs, proponents say it will help the newly legal Missouri betting platforms to attract customers who currently cross state lines to wager. Under its current features, when fully implemented, the bill would bring an additional $21 million to $29 million in revenue to the Show-Me State, benefiting education.

Sports betting supporters argue that, with all but three adjoining states allowing this form of wagering, Missouri is losing out on revenue to its neighbors. “It seems so simple and our constituents genuinely don’t understand why we haven’t got it to the finish line yet,” said Rep. Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City, who has been campaigning for legal betting for some time now. 

Data indicates they might be right: sports betting is already popular in Missouri, but the state does not benefit from it. During the NFL season, there were roughly 10 million attempts to place a sports bet in Missouri, according to geolocation services firm GeoComply, and thousands of Missourians are believed to regularly cross lines to bet on major events like the Super Bowl.

The Missouri Gaming Commission would oversee the sports betting program lined out in the bill, with at least $500,000 earmarked for compulsive gambling problems. Six of Missouri’s eight neighboring states — Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Tennessee — have legalized wagering. Kentucky lawmakers are considering a sports betting proposal as well.