Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft nudged the effort to legalize sports betting forward when he agreed with the wording of a campaign proposed by professional sports teams.
The Show Me State is taking its motto to heart by laying out eight versions for the voters. Organizers have to decide on one of the eight and collect 170,000 signatures for the right to place the question on the ballot before the May deadline.
The coalition spearheading the effort includes the Cardinals, the Blues and the city’s soccer club.
According to Cardinal’s president Bill DeWitt III, the group wants to get together with the digital gambling app industry, lay the eight versions on the table before deciding which avenue to take before designing a strategy for gathering necessary signatures.
“We’re going to do that here in the next week or two,” DeWitt told Yogonet Gaming News.
The Associated Press indicated the team reps have held talks with the Sports Betting Alliance, a group made up of BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel, and Fanatics Sportsbook.
The petition process is considered a way to go around the legislature and right to the voters. Still, DeWitt would accept legislative action to avoid a campaign for voter support.
“I would be thrilled if we could get legislative action because then we wouldn’t have to do this,” DeWitt said.
The various proposals have minor changes, but still levy a tax to raise money for education and problem gambling.
The sports teams and each of the 13 casinos could offer live sports betting in addition to online wagering. In some variants, the state would be allowed as many as four online companies to operate.
Still, in the end the careful efforts may fail. The Remington Research Group survey on behalf of the Missouri Scout political newsletter found 54 percent of voters would likely say no, compared to 26 percent who would say yes to sports betting.
