Missouri voters have approved Amendment 2, which allows sports gambling in the state.
The measure passed by about 7,500 votes, according to unofficial results reported Wednesday morning by the Missouri Secretary of State's office.
The amendment calls for a 10% sales tax on all collected gambling revenue to be directed toward funding education and the compulsive gambling fund.
The Missouri Gaming Commission will now be in charge of enforcing gambling regulations on operators.
Read how Missouri voted on five other statewide ballot measures.
The amendment was pushed by a group calling itself Winning for Missouri Education, a coalition of sports teams and gambling operators. The group’s spokesperson, Jack Cardetti, said Missouri has been missing out on sports gambling revenue for years and this amendment would allow taxed revenue to fund the state’s education.
“Every day, tens of thousands of Missourians are betting on sports, either on illegal offshore websites or they’re going to one of our seven neighboring states,” Jack Cardetti, spokesperson for Winning for Missouri Education said before the election. “As it currently stands, Missouri is getting no benefit out of that.”
The coalition commissioned a study from research firm Eilers & Krejcik, which found that $560 million could be generated from sports gambling in the first five years. With a 10% sales tax, Missouri could acquire $100 million dollars in taxes, according to the report.
But, according to a report by the Missouri state auditor’s office, the amendment would allow gambling operators to deduct any federal taxes. If receipts show negative income after deductions are applied, the operator would not have to pay any taxes to the state. Previous Missouri Business Alert reporting showed that Eilers & Krejcik’s study only took a federal excise tax into consideration.
Opponents of the amendment have also argued that gambling revenue would replace existing education funding rather than adding to it. While the amendment doesn’t explicitly outline whether the income will supplant or supplement the education budget, Winning for Missouri Education has said it’s lawmakers’ job to ensure this money serves as additional revenue.
Previous Missouri Business Alert reporting showed sports gambling could lead to higher credit card balances and an increase in lottery play according to researchers. The 10% sales tax revenue has also been low in states such as Ohio which has similar rules to Amendment 2.
Now that the Amendment 2 ballot measure is projected to pass, lawmakers must decide the start date for legalizing sports betting, which will be no later than Dec. 1, 2025.
