Passage of Missouri sports wagering seems assured despite narrow margin

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The thin margin on Amendment 2 to legalize sports wagering, threatened when almost 10,000 unreported votes in Christian County were heavily against it, appears safe in a review of official returns posted on county election websites.

And while the Missouri Constitution makes new amendments effective 30 days after the election, passage won’t immediately pull down the geofences that block Missouri gamblers from using accounts linked to licenses in other states.

“We get these calls every single day, ‘can I start making bets?’” said Mike Leara, executive director of the Missouri Gaming Commission.

Gamblers will have to continue crossing state lines until the commission can issue licenses next year, Leara said.

“It takes some sort of rules and guidelines, because, first of all, the taxation that’s involved,” Leara said. “We have to have a process for that, and then our (Code of State Regulations) process is a minimum of six months.”

When the counting stopped on Nov. 5, Amendment 2 was ahead by 4,365 votes out of 2.9 million cast, a difference of 0.15%. The Christian County official returns reduced that margin to 371 votes.

Official returns from other counties, checked online by The Independent, expanded the margin to 2,877 votes. The tallies include returns from 23 of the 25 counties with the largest number of votes.

Winning for Missouri Education, the campaign committee behind the initiative, has a tally of returns from all 116 election jurisdictions showing a final margin of 2,971 votes.

“Our coalition is so thankful that Missouri voters supported Amendment 2, so that we keep the revenues from sports betting in Missouri, which helps our local communities, our professional sports teams, and will provide millions in new education funding for Missouri classrooms each year,” said Jack Cardetti, spokesperson for Winning for Missouri Education.

Official results must be certified by the State Board of Canvassers no later than Dec. 10. The date has not been set and the two judges who will join Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft for the job have not been selected, spokesman JoDonn Chaney said Tuesday.

The margin, regardless of the final count, will be within the margin allowing for a recount. None has been requested so far, Chaney said.

Winning for Missouri Education raised a record amount for a ballot measure, $43 million, and survived a $15 million opposition campaign financed by Caesars Entertainment, owners of three casinos in Missouri.

The opposition campaign abruptly pulled its television ads three weeks before the election. Leara said the company may have misunderstood the language of the amendment, believing it was weighted in favor of online gambling platforms that aren’t owned by casino companies.

The parent companies of two of those “untethered” platforms, DraftKings and FanDuel, provided $41 million of the funds raised by Winning for Missouri Education. The remainder came from the state’s six major professional sports teams.

The amendment authorizes both in-person and online gambling.

The gaming commission will issue licenses for in-person sports wagering at the 13 existing casinos and a location in a district near a major professional sports arena. 

The major sports teams would also be allowed to license a branded online platform. There will be two online-only licenses.

The opposition from Caesars was over how many online licenses existing casino companies could obtain.

On Tuesday, Leara said each casino operating company could apply for an online license, and each casino location could apply for an online license as well.

For Caesars, that would be four — one for Caesars Entertainment, and one each for the Horseshoe Casino in St. Louis, Isle of Capri in Boonville and Harrah’s in Kansas City.

“There was some ambiguity in the understanding of, would there be a license for each one of the casinos?” Leara said.

The commission asked for input from Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office and its legal counsel and decided the amendment authorizes an online platform, known as a “skin,” for every casino, Leara said.

“When they figured out from our guidance that we intend to issue a skin for each casino, each sports team and the two untethered, they didn’t tell me they were backing down, but it looks like that’s what happened,” he said.

The first goal in the timeline for licensing is to issue emergency rules for applications in January, Leara said. The first temporary licenses could be issued by late June, he said.

“We’re looking at a streamlined process for that to initially authorize sports betting at that time,” Leara said. 

The commission licensing process requires ownership investigations and other steps, so companies with existing licenses will be first to receive temporary licenses, Leara said. DraftKings and FanDuel are already licensed to provide fantasy sports games and the casinos are already licensed to offer gambling.

“Those are definitely optimistic timelines,” Leara said. “But so far, we’re on track, so when we issue that first temporary license, then they will be able to start accepting those bets from within Missouri.”