Missouri sports betting referendum to proceed after judge’s ruling

Despite some opponents of the endeavor, residents in the state will have the opportunity to vote for legalization on the upcoming ballot.

Barring a legal version of a longshot, football-style Hail Mary, the hopes of proponents of a nationwide expansion of sports betting legalization will learn whether another U.S. state will legalize the gambling come November.

That’s because a judge in Missouri on Friday dismissed an effort to invalidate a referendum on the merits of betting, rejecting claims that not enough valid signatures had been obtained by backers of the ballot question.

An appeal by the plaintiffs is possible, but unless there is an extremely prompt ruling in their favor, Missouri’s ballots will be printed sometime on Tuesday. That would mean that even in the unlikely event of a later legal invalidation of the ballot question, voters across the state still would see the referendum appear on the ballot – and in many cases, vote either way for no reason.

It seems far more likely that a second judge would echo Friday’s sentiments of Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green, who wrote in his 12-page ruling that “Lawsuits seeking to remove an initiative petition from the ballot after it has been certified as sufficient by the secretary of state are highly disfavored.”

Green added that he could find no historical state precedent for removing an already-approved ballot question in such a manner.

Citing a previous ruling, Green noted that “When courts are called upon to intervene in the [ballot] initiative process, they must act with restraint, trepidation, and a healthy suspicion of the partisan that would use the judiciary to prevent the initiative process from taking its course.”

Stalled national rollout of legal wagering on sporting events may revive

After the U.S. Supreme Court in May 2018 sided with the state of New Jersey and agreed to invalidate Congress’s Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 and allow any state to follow in Nevada’s footsteps in permitting sports betting, 37 state legislatures did just that by the end of 2023.

But 2024 has been a barren year for further legalization, with only Missouri – which has been debating the issue in the statehouse for at least five years – still standing as a possible 39th state to feature the legal, regulated gambling. The two states with the largest populations – California and Texas – are among the 12 holdouts, with Georgia (No. 8 in population) and Missouri (No. 18) being the two next-largest states in that group.

The rush to allow state residents to bet on sports stands in stark contrast to expansion of legal online casino gaming. Delaware and New Jersey have offered that option since 2013, but only five other states have followed suit in that regard (most of them in the northeast).

Why the judge rejected the lawsuit

Judge Green wrote that the handwriting expert hired by the two plaintiffs, who are political consultants, was not “credible or particularly helpful” regarding his claims that 95 signatures in the petition came from “disqualified voters.” Green added that no evidence was presented that these voters were ineligible at the time they signed the petition, nor proof that the expert was qualified to render his conclusions.

A separate argument by the attorney for the plaintiffs was that the calculation of the method used to determine the number of signatures required in each district was inaccurate. But Green highlighted the fact that the same calculation (the number of votes cast for Governor in 2020 in each district multiplied by 8%) was used to review all other ballot questions in 2022 as well as this year.

Winning for Missouri Education spokesperson Jack Cardetti cheered the ruling.

“For too many years, Missourians have watched as fans cross state lines to place sport bets, which deprives our Missouri public schools of much needed funding,” Cardetti said. “A vote for Amendment 2 in November will bring those dollars back to Missouri classrooms.”

Oklahoma is the only state that borders Missouri that does not allow sports betting.

MLB’s St. Louis Cardinals Present Bill DeWitt III also celebrated the judge’s decision.

“Missouri is now just one step away from joining most other states in legalizing sports betting and being able to provide millions of dollars to Missouri classrooms,” DeWitt said in a statement. “On behalf of all six of Missouri’s professional sports teams, I would like to thank everyone who signed a petition to get this on the ballot. A vote for Amendment 2 in November is the right thing to do for both Missouri public schools and our favorite sports teams.”

One of those teams is the defending NFL Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, and the franchise’s backing of the ballot question undoubtedly will resonate with many state residents. The same is true on the other side of the state with the Cardinals, one of the most iconic brands in all of baseball.

The committee already has raised more than $6 million – some of it from major sportsbooks seeking to add Missouri to to their multi-state menu. The ballot question sets the tax rate on revenue at 10%, which is lower than the country’s national average.

Another amendment going before state voters would authorize the issuing of a new casino license in the Lake of the Ozarks region, a popular tourism destination in the center of the state.