Missouri Appears to Narrowly Approve Sports Betting, Rejects Lake of the Ozarks Casino

^{Mascots for the Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Blues and St. Louis Cardinals deliver signatures in May. Missouri pro teams were instrumental in getting a sports betting measure on the November ballot. (Image: Summer Ballentine / AP)}

Proponents of legalized sports betting are declaring victory in Missouri after Election Day, though the race remains close enough that major news outlets have yet to make a call on the outcome of the ballot measure.

As of Wednesday afternoon, 50.1 percent of votes in the state are in favor of Amendment 2, which would allow casinos and professional sports teams to offer sports betting in the state. 

The lead for “Yes” is currently just 7,486 votes out of over 2.9 million ballots cast, according to the latest figures from the Associated Press. While the measure appears as though it will pass, the AP isn’t calling the race, and the margin is well within the one percent difference for which a recount could be requested for a ballot question under Missouri law.

Pro Sports Teams Led Amendment 2 Campaign

But with all precincts reporting unofficial results, and a small but clear lead, sports betting supporters are already celebrating a win. 

“Missouri has some of the best sports fans in the world and they showed up big for their favorite teams on Election Day,” St. Louis Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III said on Wednesday. “On behalf of all six of Missouri’s professional sports franchises, we want to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2.”

Along with the state’s casinos, professional sports franchises in the state will also be eligible for sports betting licenses. That includes the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball, the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL, the NHL’s St. Louis Blues, and two soccer teams: the NWSL’s Kansas City Current and Major League Soccer’s St. Louis City SC. 

The sports teams were major backers of the initiative. Missouri will tax sports betting at 10 percent of revenue, with most of that income going to educational institutions in the state. However, opponents say that the amount of money going towards education has been drastically overstated.

“My guess is that anyone who thinks sports betting is going to generate large sums of new funds for education will be disappointed,” University of Missouri-Columbia political science professor Peverill Squire told The Kansas City Star.

Voters Deny Casino on Osage River

Meanwhile, Missouri voters clearly defeated Amendment 5, a proposal that would have allowed a new casino to be built on the Osage River near the Lake of the Ozarks. Unofficial totals as of Wednesday afternoon had No receiving 52.4 percent of the vote, with Yes collecting 47.6 percent. 

Amendment 5 was promoted by Bally’s and a group of investors who had already released renderings of their proposed casino in the popular tourism region. The proposed casino and adjoining hotel would have been built on a quarry near Highway 54. 

Bally’s wasn’t guaranteed to receive the casino license even if Amendment 5 had passed. However, the company was hopeful that it could gain approval and build its resort quickly, before the Osage Nation gains its own set of federal and state approvals for its own proposed $60 million casino development in the region.

Proponents of Amendment 5 had predicted it would pass fairly easily. However, the Missouri Gaming Association came out against the initiative, saying it didn’t see a reason to expand casino gaming.

“The Missouri Gaming Association led an effort to cap the number of casinos in the state,” the association said in a statement declaring its position on Amendment 5. “We do not support opening casino gaming to an additional waterway nor believe that the Missouri Constitution needs to be changed for any gaming issues.”