by Ben Perks
After holding initial discussions last week, the Missouri House Committee on Public Policy has approved a new sports betting bill. Following the consolidation of two separate bills into one that would legalize sports betting in the Show-Me State, the committee announced that there would be more discussions and compromises to address the issues of problem gambling, taxes, and an ‘off-site user’s fee.’
New Bill Requires Operators to Pay More to Problem Gambling Funds
Bills HB 2502 and HB 2556 were consolidated into one (HB 2502) before an amendment was added to double the amount operators would have to pay to problem gambling organizations from $250,000 to $500,000 every year. What’s more, the new amendments stipulate that operators can’t offer wagering options for high school sporting events.
Additionally, the amended bill puts restrictions on promotional play tax write-offs. The initial proposals would have allowed gambling companies to write off promotional credits for the foreseeable future. The new amendment, however, gives operators a 100% write-off in the first year before the start of a staggered decrease during the following five years. As a result, companies would not be able to write off promotional plays and credits five years after launching sports betting services.
The topic of legalizing this form of gambling has hit the headlines often in Missouri. In the last four years, all attempts to legalize sports betting have failed to garner enough support needed to become law.
Allocation of Sports Betting Skins
If the new bill is signed into law, casinos in Missouri will be allowed to launch three digital skins (apps or websites). As some retailers are owned by the same company, the new proposal also stipulates that there will be a cap of six skins per company.
The proposed allocation of skins is as follows:
- Affinity Gaming: Six skins
- Bally’s Corp.: Six skins
- Boyd Gaming: Six skins
- Caesars Entertainment: Six skins
- Century Casinos: Six skins
- Penn National Gaming: Six skins
- Missouri professional sports franchises (6): One skin each
User Fees for Mobile Wagers
The new bill has caused some controversy because of the inclusion of plans to implement an ‘off-site user fee’- meaning that bettors would have to pay a nominal fee of $2 or $3 to place wagers online. However, the logistics of how sportsbooks would charge customers remains unclear.
The money made from these proposed charges would fund public projects to benefit Missouri’s rural communities, as they will likely see little of the tax revenue made from sports betting. Also, many agree that a percentage of tax revenue of any bets placed within a county should go to its respective local government.
Yet gambling companies have taken issue with this, stating that tracking where a user makes a bet is difficult. One suggested solution to this problem is to place a server in each county – lawmakers believe that the cost of which should be paid by gambling operators and not the State of Missouri.
The bill will now go to the Missouri House of Representatives, where sponsors and other supporters will make their case for approval.
Sports Franchises Approve
At a previous meeting held over a week ago, representatives from the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, MLB’s St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals, NHL’s St. Louis Blues, NWSL’s Kansas City Crest, and MLS’s St. Louis City Soccer Club hall stated that they were in favor of sports betting.
Currently, bettors wanting to place sports wagers within Missouri have to use offshore-based online sportsbooks or make the trip to neighboring Illinois where sports betting is legal to wager on sporting events.
Ben is a sports journalist & part-time trader with a passion for finding +EV bets. Ben lives in Madrid, Spain where he enjoys the live poker scene, and sunshine where he covers UFC, MLB, NHL, NBA, as well as tennis betting.
