Bill Miller, president and CEO of the American Gaming Association (AGA), issued a statement after Missouri voters approved legal sports betting in Tuesday’s election.
Amendment 2, which received backing from gambling giants FanDuel and DraftKings, passed by a 0.3% margin.
“Missouri voters (Tuesday) night landed a knockout punch to illegal sportsbook operators in their state by voting to support sports betting legalization,” Miller said. “With Amendment 2’s passage, Missourians will soon be able to bet on sports legally, with consumer protections, responsible gaming measures and expertise within reach, and tax revenues dedicated to public schools. We applaud these efforts and look forward to supporting the legal, regulated market operators upon launch in the Show Me State.”
The stats
Unofficial election results revealed that Missouri voters passed the amendment with 50.1% of the vote and a margin of less than 7,500 votes or 0.256%. Although a recount is possible if the margin is under 0.5%, a spokesperson for the group opposing sports betting, the Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment (MADOGA), confirmed they do not plan to request one.
The measure received strong support statewide, including in Kansas City (64.3%), Platte County (60.4%), Jackson (58.1%), Cass County (57.1%), and Clay County (55.8%).
When will Missouri sports betting launch?
Missouri sports betting will launch no later than Dec. 1, 2025, the deadline given to the Missouri Gaming Commission. The amendment allows one online sports betting license and one retail sports betting license for each of the state’s six professional sports teams and 13 land-based casinos, such as Ameristar, Harrah’s, and Hollywood. Two additional untethered licenses are also available.
“On behalf of all six of Missouri’s professional sports franchises, we want to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax revenue to our neighboring states,” said Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Sports betting revenue in Missouri will be taxed at 10%, the same rate as neighboring Kansas. While the Winning for Missouri Education coalition pushed for Amendment 2, arguing its benefits for the state’s schools and teachers, this is one of the lower tax rates among the 39 legal sports betting states. New York, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island apply the highest tax rate to sportsbooks at 51%, while the lowest rates of 6.75% can be found in Nevada and Iowa.
The Winning for Missouri Education coalition included Missouri’s six professional sports teams – the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, MLB’s Cardinals and Kansas City Royals, NHL’s St. Louis Blues, MLS’s St. Louis City SC, and NWSL’s Kansas City Current. Just last week, the Chiefs, Royals, and Current ran a full-page ad in the Kansas City Star. After estimating $100 million in tax revenue over the next five years, the ad stated, “There simply isn’t a better time to get this done than right now.”
