A poll conducted by the Kansas City Fox News affiliate, FOX4, and Emerson College found that Missouri voters resoundingly favor legalizing sports betting to help fund Missouri classrooms by a margin of 62-38%, with a majority of Republicans, Democrats and Independents all favoring the nonpartisan issue.
The survey, which involved 1,830 registered Missouri voters and had a margin of error of +/- 2.2%, found that by a margin of 62.3-37.7% Missourians would support an initiative to legalize sports betting to help fund education. The poll found that 69% of male voters and 57% of female voters supported the initiative.
Despite having six professional sports teams in Missouri and being one of roughly a dozen states without sports betting, the Missouri General Assembly has repeatedly failed to pass legislation allowing Missourians to place sports bets in a safe, legal and regulated manner. Now, Winning for Missouri Education, a campaign led by Missouri’s six professional sports franchises, is actively collecting signatures across Missouri to place the question before voters in November.
If passed, Missouri would join a growing list of states embracing legalized sports betting, including 7 of Missouri’s 8 neighboring states.
“Each year that goes by without legalized sports betting, Missouri loses out on tens of millions of dollars that should be helping fund Missouri education,” said Jack Cardetti, spokesman for Winning for Missouri Education. “As this week’s Super Bowl will highlight, Missourians are already placing billions of dollars in bets annually on illegal, offshore websites or in neighboring states, without a penny currently going to our classrooms. Republicans, Democrats, Independents and Missourians in every corner of the state want to bring those economic impacts back to the Show Me State to help strengthen our communities and provide tens of millions to education each year.”
The proposed initiative would allow Missourians to participate in safe, legal and regulated sports betting, regulated by the Missouri Gaming Commission. Sports wagering would be taxed at 10% and generate tens of millions of dollars for Missouri public education.
