The Missouri sports betting political action committee announced no new contributions in the second quarter of 2024. The financial disclosure comes after the campaign had already raised more than $6.5 million and before a key decision on the ballot measure that could permit statewide mobile wagering.
Winning for Missouri Education, the leading advocacy group bankrolling a proposed 2024 sports betting ballot measure, received $0 in total contributions between March 1 and June 30. The campaign had received more than $6.5 million in the prior months. The campaign has spent nearly $6 million, according to financial disclosures.
FanDuel’s parent company has contributed just over $4 million. DraftKings has contributed $2 million.
The two sportsbook operators share roughly two-thirds of the regulated U.S. sports betting market. The two rivals are hoping these contributions can push through legal wagering in the Show Me State should voters be presented a ballot measure to do so this fall.
Next decision
Missouri sports betting advocates now await certification of the ballot measure, which is expected by next month.
Supporters, including the state’s major professional sports teams and casino industry, submitted more than 340,000 signatures in May to get the betting measure on the ballot. Missouri law requires roughly half that total to appear before voters.
Assuming the Secretary of State’s office validates the requisite signatures, attention then shifts to the fall.
Proponents will need a majority of statewide voters on the 2024 ballot to approve of sports betting. Early polling shows a close race.
Benefiting the “yes” vote is the lack of an organized opposition group. No registered organizations opposing the sports betting ballot measure have formed.
The Missouri sports betting committee reported $0 in new contributions in the last three months; the group looking to place a measure that would allow voters to approve mobile sportsbooks has raised $6.5m overall, most of that coming from FanDuel and DraftKings
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) July 24, 2024
California is the only state where voters rejected a sports betting ballot measure. Opposition groups there raised tens of millions of dollars to stop a 2022 referendum campaign.
FanDuel and DraftKings, the two operators seemingly best poised to capitalize on Missouri sports betting, will likely continue to contribute to making that happen. BetMGM, Caesars, ESPN BET and Bally Bet, all of which would be set to open mobile sportsbooks if the measure is approved, could also help push the scale.
All the above sportsbooks have parent companies that run one of Missouri’s 13 casinos or have already secured sports betting market access deals. Bally’s is also spearheading an unrelated ballot measure that would allow voters to approve a casino at the Lake of the Ozarks.
Combined with the support of Missouri’s popular pro sports teams such as the St. Louis Cardinals and reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, proponents believe their millions of dollars in contributions (so far) will pay off.
Missouri potential
Except for Oklahoma, every Missouri border state allows some form of legal sports betting. That includes Illinois, which shares a metro area with St. Louis, and Kansas, which splits the Kansas City metro area. Kansas has also aggressively courted the Chiefs as well as the Royals with new stadiums across the western border. Some advocates have proposed using sports betting tax dollars to do so.
Nationally, Missouri remains one of the few marquee sports betting targets.
Thirty-eight states plus Washington, D.C. offer at least one legal sportsbook. Missouri joins California, Texas, Minnesota, and Georgia as the only states with at least three teams across the four largest U.S. professional sports leagues and no legal betting options.
