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Missouri Making Push For Legalized Sports Betting

On the strength of the Kansas City Chiefs’ run to the Super Bowl, the state of Missouri is hoping to finally bring legalized sports betting within its borders. Currently, if Chiefs fans want to place a bet, they need to drive a few hours – or place it illegally.

Since it’s the weekend of the big game, you know a lot of these fans will be itching to do so.

Right now, there are 14 states that have legalized sports betting and seven more that are gearing up for the green light to go forward.

According to the American Gaming Association, it is estimated that around 26 million bettors will wager some type of bet on the Super Bowl. In total, it is also estimated that about $6.8 billion will be bet on the game. Missouri, and even neighboring Kansas, will be missing out on all of that wagered action.

“We’ve heard from some of our constituents who are driving as far north as Iowa,” said Missouri state Senator Tony Luetkemeyer, R-Parkville.

Luetkemeyer has been insistent on keeping the push for legalized sports betting going strong. After all, the money made from sports betting would be a nice source of income in tax revenue. Last year, nearby Iowa collected $1.3 million in tax revenue after opening in mid-August.

“We’ll draw people from Kansas City. We’ll draw people from South Dakota. We’ll get people from all over this place,” said Paul Czak, vice president of the Ameristar Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Royalties To Teams

Senate Bill 754 would give the state the green light to open casinos under the Missouri Gaming Commission; those casinos would pay back royalties directly to the sports teams.

“If somebody prints a T-shirt with a Chiefs logo on it, there’s no question that the person who prints that T-shirt owes some royalty by using the Chiefs’ likeness,” said Luetkemeyer. “I think the same thing is true to the casino industry. If they’re going to make millions of dollars off Chiefs’ games or off Mizzou games during March Madness, they should be paying some type of royalty back to the team.”

Opposition To Betting

As the case is with every state, there will be those who are opposed to sports betting.

“The danger of sports betting is that there’s some out here in the population who are compulsive gamblers that have a problem with this,” said Kevin Bost, who is an advocate for the National Coalition on Problem Gambling. “So they’re going to get in too deep. They’re going to continue to bet.”

What Bost fails to realize is that there are systems in place to help those people with exuberant gambling tendencies. Not to mention, legalized gambling forces bettors to be more responsible.

When betting through a black-market bookie, you’re able to bet with money you don’t have. In legalized gambling, you can’t bet unless you have the money.

It’ll be interesting to see the outcome of Super Bowl LIV and how that impacts the betting markets in Missouri. If the Chiefs end up winning, there will be people that may feel like they missed out on a big opportunity. On the other hand, if the 49ers win, they may feel like they dodged a bullet.

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