Missouri lawmakers say it’s long overdue to decriminalize and regularize sports betting, and they be after to come something almost it when the General Assembly convenes in January for its 2022 session.

At to the lowest degree IV Republican Missouri legislators say they testament acquaint statute law to spread out play in the country to include sports betting. Missouri River is home to 13 riverboat casinos.

Sen. Denny Hoskins (R-Caldwell), Rep. Phil Christofanelli (R-St. Charles), Rep. Dan Shaul (R-Jefferson), and Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer (R-Buchanan) feature either pre-filed sports gaming bills or say they testament present such legislation when the legislative assembly convenes on January 5, 2022.

Of the ogdoad states Missouri River shares a march with, tetrad make effectual sports betting upwardly and running. They are Iowa, Illinois, Tennessee, and Arkansas. Sports betting is also effectual inwards Nebraska, with the firstly regulated sportsbooks band to open in that respect in the coming weeks.

Significant Tax Revenue

Sports betting inward MO has been considered every twelvemonth since the US Supreme Margaret Court struck out the federal forbidding on the gaming arrange everyplace but NV in May of 2018. But the Republican-controlled General Assembly has failed to concur on the regulatory terms that sportsbooks would be governed by in to each one legislative session.

The next twelvemonth must get a different outcome, say the Republicans who be after to lead the exertion next month. Speaking latterly with NBC5, Shaul explained that Missourians want to gamble on sports, and the state should grant them to do so inward a responsible for(p) mode that also benefits the state.

Fiscal projections from nonpartizan legislative services paint a picture that the Show-Me State could live shown roughly $20 million every year in associated sports betting task money. The MO Old Ironsides mandates that all revenue enhancement receipts from gambling follow allocated towards land public education.

Issues inwards previous legislative sessions that make been blamed for the sports betting holdup include royal house fees for the professional person sports leagues and high-pitched assess rates that mightiness deliver the market untempting for operators.

Christofanelli, 1 of the sports betting pre-filters, suggests imposing a reasonable 6.75 percent revenue enhancement on sports betting receipts gaming revenue. Licenses would be simply $50,000 upfront, positive $40,000 a yr to plow regulatory costs incurred by the Missouri Gaming Commission.

The licensing fees and taxation value would be among the lowest inward the country, and would almost certainly attract the industry’s biggest players, such as DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM.

By comparison, inward Indiana, a say with a similar population sizing to Missouri, the land taxes receipts sports betting income at 9.5 percent. Licenses to boot be $100,000 upfront, and are renewed annually at $50,000.

Path to Sports Betting

Missouri lawmakers cannot legalise sports betting on their own. Instead, after both gathering chambers subscribe cancelled on a sports gambling statute, a referendum must move before voters asking for their support, too.

If a unsubdivided absolute majority of voters backrest the sports play question, the MO Old Ironsides is amended to expand play to include the activity. Constitutional referendums put up only when proceed before voters during even-numbered years.