Hopes for Missouri Sports Betting Are Dwindling

• The Missouri legislative sessions ends this Friday
• A Missouri Senator noted two compromises have already been rejected
• A House Bill has been approved, but it will likely not be voted on in the Senate

Hopes for Missouri sports betting may be on its last legs as the conclusion of the state’s legislative session looms large.

Sen. Denny Hoskins (R-21) told Sports Betting Dime today that a compromise on sports betting is not likely to be reached before the session is out without support from Missouri casinos. Hoskins said a contingency of Missouri casinos are against legalized sports betting, even legislation that does not include controversial video lottery terminals. Without Missouri casino support it’s unlikely any sports betting bill will be approved, he said.

No Casino Support, No Sports Betting?

A number of Missouri sports betting compromises have been floated behind the scenes and even on the Senate floor, none of which have been agreed upon, Hoskins said.

Missouri’s legislative session is set to conclude on Friday, May 13.

“Unfortunately, the casinos have not agreed to the Hageman/Hoskins compromise or the Houx/Hoskins compromise,” he told Sports Betting Dime today by text message.

It’s unlikely that a deal will be made “unless the casinos agree to a deal,” Hoskins told Sports Betting Dime.

What Will it Take for Missouri Sports Betting?

The Missouri House approved a sports betting bill in March to legalize retail and online sports betting for state casinos and Missouri professional sports franchises.

The bill included an 8% sports betting tax rate and allowed for 39 separate sportsbook skins distributed amongst the state’s 13 casinos and six professional sports organizations.

The bill was amended slightly to include 5,000 video-lottery terminals (VLTs), a 10% sports betting tax rate, and no parlay bets at lottery retailers.  However, after an amendment was floated to strip the “Hageman/Hoskins” compromised bill of the VLTs, Hoskins filibustered for nearly three hours and no vote was taken.

Since then, Hoskins floated a separate standalone bill that did not include VLTs, but upped the tax rate to 15% and increased the annual license fee from $125,000 to $1.25 million. He modeled his bill after Illinois’ sports betting plan, increasing the proposed sports betting tax rate from 10% to 15% in the document. He introduced the “Hoskins/Houx” compromised bill after midnight on Thursday, May 5, but when it became apparent no vote would be taken he withdrew his bill at 1:15 a.m.

“The casinos encouraged some senators to filibuster my sportsbook amendment,” he told Sports Betting Dime.

Same Missouri Sports Betting Bill Framework

The majority of the framework for all the amended sports betting bills are the same. They all call for the legalization of retail and online sports betting in Missouri casinos and allow for 39 separate sportsbook skins to be distributed amongst the state’s 13 casinos and six professional sports organizations.

Each casino will be able to offer a maximum of three skins, but will cap the number of skins per casino company at six if they own two or more facilities. The remaining skins will be allocated to Missouri professional sports franchises.

The breakdown for skins will be as such:

• Affinity Gaming: Six skins
• Boyd Gaming: Six skins
• Caesars Entertainment: Six skins
• Century Casinos: Six skins
• Penn National Gaming: Six skins
• Bally’s Corporation: Three skins
• Missouri professional sports franchises (6): One skin each

However, if a deal is not made before May 13, the Missouri legislature will have to wait until 2023 to begin the process again.