sports betting initiative

Legal Missouri sports betting might not be a done deal after all

On 5 November and in the days thereafter, it appeared that Missouri voters had approved Amendment 2, which allows for statewide retail and digital sports betting. But with vote tallies still trickling in, it's possible that the measure didn't pass, or at least that a recount could be demanded.

Multiple media outlets and the Sports Betting Alliance (SBA) touted Amendment 2’s passage in the week of the presidential election. But according to the Missouri Independent, the results from one county could reverse that.

And even if the amendment is deemed a winner, the vote differential is so slim, a recount could be requested.

Christian County is located in southwest Missouri and is considered a suburb of Springfield. And according to a certified vote tally dated 12 November, 30,320 ballots were “no” on Amendment 2 and 19,955 were “yes”. That’s a difference of 10,365 votes on a constitutional amendment that was said to have won by the slimmest of margins. That official vote tal..

November 6, 2024

Missouri voters barely approve statewide digital wagering

Missouri voters on Tuesday (5 November) night did what the legislature has failed to do in more than five sessions – legalised statewide digital sports betting.

The margin was thin, about a half a percentage point and a 14,000-vote margin, according to the Missouri Independent. But in the end, Caesars’ short-lived opposition campaign did not kill the proposal. The company, one of two that operates three land-based casinos in the state, pulled $1 million (£775,l64/€919,250) worth of scheduled television advertising in mid-October.

And last weekend, iGB confirmed that the Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC) said it interprets Amendment 2 to mean that each casino location is entitled to a digital betting licence. Previously, stakeholders believed that the initiative language indicated that each casino company – not location – would get a licence.

Missouri is the only state this year to legalise a statewide gambling expansion. Six of Missouri’s seven border states already have some form..

November 4, 2024

Missouri regulator: Casinos will get one betting platform per location

The Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC) on Saturday (2 November) told iGB that land-based casino operators in the state will get one digital betting platform per location should Amendment 2 pass on Tuesday (5 November).

It’s been widely understood that due to the wording of the proposal, land-based casino companies would get the rights to one digital licence per company instead of one per location. This interpretation of the initiative was not attractive to the state’s existing casino operators. Many operate two or more physical locations in Missouri.

According to the initiative language:
b. The commission shall offer not more than one mobile licence to operate sports wagering in this state to each qualified applicant that is:
(1) an owner of an excursion gambling boat located in this state or a sports wagering operator operating on behalf of each such owner, provided, however, that not more than one sports wagering operator shall be permitted to operate under such mobile licence on..

November 1, 2024

State of the Union: ESPN-ESPN Bet now linked, Missouri initiative opposition, more

Welcome to iGB's State of the Union, a look at the biggest North American sports betting stories we've covered over the week and briefs on others we found interesting.

ESPN Bet-ESPN linking now available

On Friday (1 November) Penn Entertainment and ESPN announced that ESPN and ESPN Bet accounts can now be linked. Consumers can “seamlessly track upcoming, live and settled bets within the ESPN app and on ESPN.com.” Connecting accounts will also allow ESPN Bet to offer personalised promotions and bets.

“Bringing this new feature to market is an important step as we work to create a fully interconnected media and betting ecosystem between ESPN and ESPN Bet,” Aaron LaBerge, chief technology officer at Penn Entertainment said via press release. “Account linking allows us to better serve and engage our users by unlocking key personalisation and promotional capabilities. This feature is just the beginning of deeper integrations that will further differentiate the ESPN Bet experi..

October 29, 2024

Plenty of support for Missouri legal wagering initiative, but fate unclear

While Caesars has backed down on its “no” on Amendment 2 contributions in Missouri, on 24 October FanDuel added another $4.6 million in support of the legal sports betting initiative.

FanDuel’s latest deposit brings the total contributions to the “Winning for Missouri Education” campaign to $40.7 million (£31.2 million/€37.6 million), according to Missouri Ethics Commission records. That total alone would make the campaign the priciest in Missouri history. Before deciding to “focus our efforts on grassroots outreach and community conversations” and pulling $1 million worth of scheduled television advertising earlier this month, Caesars had funded the “no” campaign with more than $14 million.

The two biggest newspapers in Missouri have endorsed Amendment 2. But the Kansas City Star editorial board did so “with some hesitation” on 10 October. In an editorial, the newspaper outlined concerns about addiction.

Whether or not the initiative will pass is unclear. The most recent polling..

October 22, 2024

As sports teams, DraftKings and FanDuel up Missouri initiative game, Caesars goes to the people

Just as proponents of the Missouri legal sports betting initiative are beefing up television airtime, opponents are pulling back to focus on “grassroots” efforts and calling proponents' promise of $100m for education “dishonest”.

The initiative, Amendment 2, will go before the voters on the US presidential election ballot on 5 November. Proponents DraftKings and FanDuel have funded the richest campaign in Missouri history, according to the Missouri Independent. The two companies have funded ‘Winning for Missouri Education’ with more than $35m (£27m/€32.4m). DraftKings contributed another $4.6m on 17 October.

Caesars, the only operator to fund the opposition campaign ‘Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment’, has contributed more than $14m. Combined, both sides have contributed a record sum of nearly $50m. And that’s for an initiative that is on the same ballot as an abortion initiative.

Brooke Foster, spokesperson for the opposition campaign, told ‘Politica..

October 4, 2024

Missouri sports betting initiative won’t be most expensive in history, but the numbers are already stunning

Caesars Entertainment, DraftKings and FanDuel continue to dump dollars into campaigns for and against legal sports betting in Missouri.
The Missouri campaigns won’t be the priciest in history, or even for a sports betting initiative. But the totals are striking for a state that ranks 18th in population, with 6.2 million residents.

As of Friday (4 October), proponents and opponents had staked campaigns with more than $35m (£26.6m/€31.9m), according to the Missouri Ethics Commission website. Advertisements are flooding airwaves and mailboxes ahead of the 5 November election. To put that figure in perspective, a total of $32.7m was spent on eight proposed amendments or propositions in 2018, according to Ballotpedia.

The title for the most expensive initiative belongs to California, the biggest US state. In 2022, proponents and opponents spent more than $450m on two sports betting proposals. The ultimate result was that both failed spectacularly.

Caesars contribution totals $10.9m so..

September 15, 2024

Caesars contributes $4m to campaign against legal Missouri sports betting

Caesars Entertainment made $4m (£3m/€3.6m) in contributions to a campaign that aims to convince voters to say no to the Missouri legal wagering initiative backed by the state's professional sports teams.
The ‘Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment’ political committee was formed on 10 September. And, according to records on the Missouri ethics commission (MEC) website, the casino giant funded the campaign on 13 September. The company made three separate contributions under the names of its casinos.

Tropicana St Louis, which is now the Horseshoe Casino, and the Isle of Capri Casino Booneville each donated $1.3m. Harrah’s North Kansas City contributed $1.4m.

Caesars so far is the only casino company in the state to take a clear stance on the issue of legal Missouri sports betting.

The initiative, which will be listed as Amendment 2 on the November ballot, survived a legal challenge last week. It would legalise statewide digital sports betting with platforms..

September 6, 2024

Judge promises swift decision on fate of Missouri digital wagering initiative

An all-day hearing on Thursday (5 September) in a Missouri federal court did not yield a decision about whether or not a sports betting ballot initiative could move forward. But it was good theatre.
Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel R Green did not rule Thursday in Jacqueline Wood et al vs John Ashcroft, but did say to expect a quick decision.

In the lawsuit, Wood and fellow political consultant Blake Lawrence claim the voting districts used by the secretary of state to certify the Missouri wagering initiative are incorrect. In Missouri, a proposal needs verified signatures from 8% of voters in six of the state’s eight voting districts. Lawmakers redrew the congressional districts in 2020.

According to the lawsuit, the secretary of state’s office used old districts to determine if enough verified signatures were collected. It then used the new districts to determine where voters live.

Essentially that means that even if a signature came from a person who remains at the same address..

April 10, 2024

Howe: California sports betting will be done “with and through” state tribes

FanDuel CEO Amy Howe extended an olive branch to California tribes in a panel discussion Tuesday (9 April ) morning at the Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention, acknowledging that any future of California sports betting will be done “with and through” tribal operators.

Howe was joined onstage by CNIGA chairman James Siva as well as Jacob Mejia, director of public affairs for Pechanga Development Corporation, both of whom lauded the CEO for being willing to engage in such discussion after the two sides’ previous vitriol.

FanDuel, DraftKings and other commercial operators burned hundreds of millions in 2022 by lobbying for and promoting Proposition 27, an initiative that would have legalised online sports betting in California but was soundly rejected by state voters.

Tribes did offer their own initiative – Proposition 26 – that was also rejected by voters, however tribal leaders have maintained that the overall goal was to oppose and defeat Proposition 27 rather than promote and p..

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Tag: sports betting initiative