In Missouri, state Rep. Bart Korman said it’s unlikely his proposed bill, HB 2320, which would allow sports betting, will pass this session—primarily due to Governor Eric Greitens’ efforts to fight felony charges for invasion of privacy and computer tampering relating to his campaign’s alleged procurement of a nonprofit donor list without the charity’s knowledge, as well as allegations of sexual assault and blackmail. “I do not foresee sports betting legislation passing happening at this time. If you look at the news with our governor and the attorney general and other things going on, I’m not real optimistic that any legislation is going to pass, especially something new like this.”
Greitens was indicted in February for photographing a woman with whom he had an extramarital affair without her consent. A Missouri House investigation indicated the former Navy SEAL had been sexually and physically abusive toward the woman. Greitens has admitted to the affair but has strongly denied the woman’s descriptions of his behavior. Earlier, a St. Louis judge rejected Greitens’ request to throw out the charges. He has declared he will not resign, although several Republican legislative leaders have called on him to do so.
Korman’s bill would authorize sports betting in the state’s 13 casinos through the state lottery and on daily fantasy sites. It’s short on details on purpose, he said. “After I threw my approach out there, a few other people threw their approaches out. But I think with the legislature, sometimes simpler is better. And since this would be new to Missouri, I think simpler is better.“ He said he’d prefer to leave rules regarding sports betting management, implementation and taxation to the Missouri Gaming Commission. The issue depends on the U.S. Supreme Court lifting the federal sports betting ban.
Korman noted if sports betting can bring in more revenue for education, that, in turn, would free up other money in the general fund to be used for roads and bridges.
Meanwhile, he said, “Betting against sports betting not passing is probably a safe bet at this time. Trust me, I’d like to be ahead of the curve on a lot of other things. But I don’t see that sports betting would be enough of a concern to do it in this session.”
