Last month, for the second consecutive year, the Missouri House passed a bill legalizing sports betting. The vote was 118-35, with 32 of the no votes cast by Republicans. But the bill’s fate in the Senate still is questionable, observers said, largely over disagreements about regulating video lottery terminals (VLTs).
Senate Democratic Leader John Rizzo told the Missouri Independent, “The path is increasingly dim. But I will also say that I think getting to a vote on the video lottery terminal stuff was always a problem in the past. So the ball moved forward a little bit on that. Is it enough? I don’t believe it is.”
Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden said odds are “not good, unfortunately” for sports wagering.
Rowden told the Independent, “My assumption based on previous actions in the Senate Appropriations Committee is that video lottery terminals won’t be a part of it when it comes out, so I’d say the House bill gets to the Senate floor. What happens there, I have no idea.” What did happen was the Senate took no vote on the overall sports wagering bill as written when debate ended.
Rizzo said the official Republican position is to oppose any gambling expansion. He said, “There are some people out there that are trying to work through the process. But you do have a handful that could make a difference that just will not be on board with any sort of expansion of gaming due to the Republican Party platform.”
The sports betting measure passed by the House is similar to legislation endorsed for the past two years by casino operators and major professional sports teams. It would create an exclusion zone around arenas where only the team’s approved platform could advertise, and would provide lucrative write-offs for promotions; net winnings after those write-offs would be taxed at 10 percent, which is less than half the rate paid by the state’s 13 licensed casinos.
The Senate also heard discussion on state Senator Denny Hoskins’ bill legalizing both sports wagering and video lottery terminals. Hoskins told the Independent, “I am trying to thread the needle. Some want a sportsbook-only bill. Some want a video-lottery-only bill. Some don’t want any expansion of gambling at all. And some want to work on unregulated VLTs. My colleagues are all over the place.”
Rizzo said video games already are located in thousands of locations across Missouri, so they should be regulated and players assured of fairness. He stated moral objections to the games are unrealistic, since Missourians can smoke marijuana, gamble at casinos and buy unlimited lottery tickets. “But you’re saying I can’t bet 50 bucks on the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl next year or the Cardinals to win the World Series this year. And the average person is exactly right. It makes no sense,” he said.
