Missouri State Senator Denny Hoskins is proposing a sports betting tax to fund improvement at sports stadiums in the state.
Hoskins said he was considering the professional league’s requests for “integrity fees” to help police the sports and prevent tampering due to gambling. He then hit on a different idea.
“It’s an idea that I started thinking about because if there is an integrity fee it would go to the professional leagues and if there is not an integrity fee, that money would go to the casinos,” Hoskins told the website Sports Handle. “So, I thought, what if we put the integrity fee into a fund, because whether it’s the Scottrade Center or Arrowhead Stadium or the Edward Jones Dome … they don’t only need money to upgrade the actual facilities, but to upgrade the fan experience.
Whether they need better intersections or lighting, or I’ve never heard of a stadium that says ‘yes, we have too many women’s bathrooms.’ The goal would be to upgrade either in the stadium or even outside of it.”
Hoskins recently filed a new sports betting bill in the state legislature and included an “Entertainment Facilities Infrastructure Fund.”
The bill calls for a fee of 0.5 percent of gross dollars wagered to go into this fund. In addition, the bill calls for a total 14 percent tax on sports betting, a 12 percent state tax and a two percent administrative fee.
“We get asked all the time—and even when we don’t get asked—some sort of new sports facility gets built and its assumed that the city or the state will fund it,” Hoskins said. “So, I was trying to think outside the box, and with the amount of money that we spend (on venues) I was trying to think of a way to better the fan experience or game.”
Hoskins said he expects opposition to the idea.
“For the casinos, it would be ideal to have no tax on any of the sports betting,” Hoskins said. “So I would think that they would not be in favor of this.”
Hoskins said the fee is up for discussion.
“I’d say to the casinos, we’re willing to work with you on legal sports betting, but you are going to have to make some concessions, we’re not just going to open it up to help casinos in Missouri increase their bottom line,” he said. “Missouri is going to have some skin in the game, as well. So, we might say, then let’s take a look at the tax rate.”
