In a joint effort to legalize sports betting in Missouri, several professional sports teams submitted over 340,000 voter signatures on Thursday. The campaign received support from popular team mascots like Fredbird from the Cardinals, Sluggerrr from the Royals, and Louie from the St. Louis Blues. These mascots enthusiastically carried boxes filled with signatures to the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office in Jefferson City. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft will now need to validate the signatures before the proposal can officially go on the ballot, requiring approximately 180,000 valid signatures for qualification.
Missouri has been unable to pass legislation in the Senate to legalize sports betting despite efforts by prominent sports organizations like the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Blues to push for it. The coalition of teams involved in this initiative includes other prominent sports organizations like the Kansas City Chiefs, Kansas City Royals, Kansas City Current, and St. Louis City soccer teams.
If approved by voters, state regulators would be required to implement sports betting no later than December 1st, 2025. The proposed constitutional amendment aims to permit each of Missouri’s 13 casinos and six professional sports teams to offer both onsite and mobile sports betting within a 400-yard radius of their stadiums and arenas. Teams would have control over onsite betting and advertising within that radius while two mobile operators would be licensed directly by the Missouri Gaming Commission for mobile betting operations outside that radius. A portion of licensing fees and taxes generated would be allocated towards programs addressing problem gambling with at least $5 million annually while the remainder would go towards education at various levels.