It took several weeks since the November 5th election, but all the votes have now been counted, and Amendment 2, Missouri’s sports betting referendum, has officially passed by only 2,961 votes, or less than half a percent of the votes cast.
We Have a Winner
The deadline to certify a winner was December 10th, but they didn’t need the extra few days to declare Amendment 2 as officially passed, paving the way for mobile and retail sports betting in the Show Me State. Less than 3000 votes decided the sports betting industry’s fate in Missouri after nearly 3 million votes were cast.
Few believed the vote would be this close after DraftKings and FanDuel donated a combined $40 million to the political action committee, Winning for Missouri Education, which was formed in conjunction with Missouri’s professional sports teams to evangelize the benefits of sports betting through advertising campaigns.
Naturally, the two industry-leading powerhouses, FanDuel and DraftKings, had a vested financial interest in sports betting coming to Missouri, but so too did the state’s six professional sports teams, including the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Blues, Kansas City Chiefs, Kansas City Royals, Kansas City Current, and St. Louis City soccer teams.
New Revenue Stream
The sports teams will now get a new revenue stream from mobile sportsbooks that, with the exception of two untethered licenses, must seek partnership deals with any one of the six pro sports franchises or a land-based casino operator in the state.
“Joining the 38 other states that already allow sports betting will allow us to further engage with our fans while keeping tens of millions in Missouri for the benefit of our classrooms and communities,” St. Louis Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III said in a statement Thursday.
The cleverly named PAC, Winning for Missouri Education, was front and center for the good part of the year, and its name reminded people that the vast majority of the tax revenues derived from sports betting would go to Missouri’s educational system.
No Recount Demanded
Despite the razor-thin margin, it has been reported those opposed to sports betting in Missouri will not ask for a recount. Ironically, one of the biggest donors to the anti-sports betting PAC, Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment, was the iconic Las Vegas gaming brand, Caesars Entertainment, which donated $14 million to battle against mobile sports betting in the state.
Caesars’ Opposition
Although Caesars has a considerable mobile sports betting presence throughout the nation, it did not approve of the legislation the way it was written. The primary reason was that Caesars operates three land-based casinos in Missouri, and under most sports betting legislation, each of its casinos would be awarded a skin or be allowed a mobile sports betting partner that would use the casino’s logo and branding but would be obligated to pay a share of the profits to that casino.
However, Amendment 2 allowed only one skin per casino operator, not one skin per casino, which didn’t sit well with Caesars. The other aspect of the legislation that rankled Caesars was that there were two untethered licenses available, which means the owners of those licenses, ostensibly FanDuel and DraftKings, don’t have to partner with a land-based casino operator or a sports team and will keep all the profits to themselves.
Caesars is expected to launch its own mobile sportsbook when Missouri goes live with sports betting, likely to be before September and in time for NFL and college football. However, the legislation demands that sports betting be launched by December 1, 2025.
