Missouri lawmakers weigh sports betting bills. Will gas station slots tank legalization?

When the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl this month, there were more than 250,000 attempts to bet on the game from online accounts in Missouri.

All of those attempts were blocked, said Sean Ostrow, a lobbyist for the Sports Betting Alliance, representing BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics. Ostrow on Wednesday urged lawmakers to approve a bill that would legalize and tax sports betting in Missouri as gamblers continue to trickle into Kansas to place bets.

“It’s a significant loss for Missouri,” he said. “Hundreds of thousands of people want to be able to bet on their favorite teams.”

The Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday heard two bills that would legalize and tax sports gambling — allowing Missourians to place bets on major sporting events.

But the major disagreement over the bills wasn’t on actual sports gambling. Much of the discussion was focused on whether sports betting legislation should also address controversial lottery machines, called video lottery terminals.

Wednesday’s more than two-hour-long hearing illustrated that the debate over legalizing the lottery machines will likely be a major hurdle for legalized sports betting in Missouri. Attempts to regulate the gaming machines, which some prosecutors consider illegal, have previously complicated the state’s push to legalize sports wagering.

The slots have proliferated across rural Missouri in recent years — at gas stations, truck stops and fraternal organizations.

One bill, filed by state Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, a Parkville Republican, would legalize sports betting and impose a 10% tax on sports bets. It would bring Missouri in line with the 36 other states, including Kansas, that have legalized the practice. It does not address the lottery machines.

The other bill, filed by state Sen. Denny Hoskins, a Warrensburg Republican and longtime supporter of legalizing the video lottery terminals, combines the two issues. Hoskins’ bill would tax sports betting at 10% and the video lottery terminals at 36%.

“Each year we put off creating a legal option, the illegal industry grows,” Hoskins told the committee, estimating that the slot machines would allow the state to bring in an additional $250 million in revenue each year.

Representatives from the region’s major sports teams on Wednesday urged lawmakers to get moving on sports betting. But the teams, the Chiefs, Kansas City Royals, Kansas City Current, St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Blues and St. Louis City SC, said they were hesitant to support the language legalizing the gaming machines.

“We support the sports betting piece. As for the VLT piece, to the extent that it would make it harder for this bill to pass…we will not support it,” said St. Louis Cardinals President Bill DeWitt. “Our position is that we’d like to see the two issues bifurcated.”

Operators of Missouri’s casinos are also pushing for lawmakers to legalize sports gambling. But Mike Winter, president of the Missouri Gaming Association, which represents Missouri’s 13 casinos made it clear on Wednesday that casinos were vehemently opposed to legislation that would legalize video lottery terminals.

“We need an even playing field,” he told lawmakers. “There is nothing in this bill that puts the VLT slot machines on an even playing field with the existing slot machines in Missouri casinos.”

Several restaurant and bar owners who spoke in favor of Hoskins’ bill said that legalizing the slot machines would help their businesses fight pressures from inflation and losses from the COVID-19 pandemic.

April Kabrick, co-owner of Boozers Bar & Grill in Liberty, said she won’t put the slot machines — sometimes called gray games — in her business because of their murky legal status. But, she said, if they’re regulated, the slots could help her business stay afloat.

“This would be a game changer for us,” she said. “We can’t compete with other businesses that have decided to go ahead and implement the gray machines.”

The renewed debate over sports betting, and the gambling machines, comes as Missourians have derided lawmakers for failing to come to an agreement on both issues. Two bills that would solely legalize sports betting are also flowing through the Missouri House this session.

If lawmakers once again fail to pass some form of sports betting this year, sports teams and gambling advocates may look to bypass the General Assembly and get the issue on a future statewide ballot.

Representatives from Missouri’s major sports teams filed paperwork in 2021 to try to get a sports betting ballot measure in front of voters, but the proposal never came to fruition.