Voters in the Show-Me State are not showing a lot of love for legalizing sports betting at the moment, according to a new public opinion survey.
With signatures still being verified for a possible ballot question regarding sports betting in Missouri, fresh polling from Emerson College and The Hill suggests most voters are either indifferent or opposed to the idea.
The survey of 1,000 registered voters, conducted from June 17 to June 19, found that 38% of Missourians would support legalizing sports betting at the ballot box, while 35% would reject it and 26% were undecided.
In other words, the poll suggests a sports betting measure lacks the 50% support it needs to pass.
MISSOURI POLL with @thehill#MOGov GOP Primary
— Emerson College Polling (@EmersonPolling) June 21, 2024
Jay Ashcroft 23%
Mike Kehoe 20%
Bill Eigel 6%
5% someone else
46% undecidedhttps://t.co/IitCU558Hm pic.twitter.com/ph7KkhVk3M
Yet the most recent polling deviates from the relatively strong support reported earlier by previous surveys.
In January, for instance, a separate Emerson College poll found 62% of Missouri voters supported sports betting if it were on the ballot this year, while 38% would vote against it. Another poll done in February by Saint Louis University in partnership with YouGov found 60% support for legalizing professional sports betting, with another 25% of likely voters opposed and 14% unsure.
Whether Missouri voters will get quizzed on sports betting at all is still to be determined.
Winning for Missouri Education, the pro-sports betting and professional sports team-backed group, has gathered more than 340,000 signatures for its attempt to ask voters in November if they want the state to legalize event wagering. The group needs around 180,000 "valid" signatures, with a decision expected in July on whether the ballot measure will be certified.
“Estimates suggest that Missourians currently place hundreds of millions in bets each year either by using illegal, offshore gaming websites, or by driving to neighboring states to place wagers,” Winning for Missouri Education said in May. “By legalizing sports gaming in Missouri, the initiative petition would halt much of this activity and instead provide tens of millions of dollars annually for Missouri classrooms, where teachers are some of the lowest paid in the entire country.”
Nice team you've got there ...
There is another dimension to the debate in Missouri beyond capturing illegal activity and generating some tax dollars. Notably, the latest Emerson/Hill poll also asked voters how important it was to them to keep the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals in Missouri. On that question, 63% said it was crucial to keep the Chiefs in the state, and 58% said it was important the Royals remain as well.
That question is connected at least in part to the status of sports betting in Missouri. It is professional teams who are pushing the ballot initiative to legalize wagering in the state, as it is viewed by those organizations as a good way to increase fan engagement, advertising, and, ultimately, revenue.
The lack of legal sports betting in Missouri could soon loom even larger in the decisions of teams to remain in the state as well, especially with Kansas keen to lure franchises across the border.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly signed into law last week House Bill 2001, which allows for the use of Sales Tax and Revenue (STAR) Bonds to attract professional sports teams to the state by financing up to 70% of the cost of a new stadium for an MLB or NFL team. Those bonds could be repaid with the help of money raised by the retail and online sports betting revenue generated in Kansas since Sept. 2022.
“We know that modernizing our economic development tools provides the opportunity to increase private investment into the state,” Governor Kelly said in a press release. “By modifying the STAR Bonds program, one of our strongest economic development mechanisms, lawmakers crafted a viable option for attracting professional sports teams to Kansas.”
