Missouri to debate sports betting

In 2019, the General Assembly will assess two pre-filed bills that would legalise sports betting in the state.

US.- Sports betting is being discussed all across the US but Missouri could be the one to have the most different approaches to the segment. As lawmakers wait for January 9th to convene for the 2019 General Assembly, two sports betting bills have been pre-filed and will be considered during next year’s session.

The first bill was introduced by republican Senator Denny Hoskins, who pre-filed SB 44 to bring millions of revenue dollars to education and veteran programs around the state. “Here in Missouri, we definitely want to be in the mix,” he explained and added: “We don’t want to be the last one to the table and lose out on that additional revenue.”

The proposed legislation would allow riverboat casinos in Missouri to take wagers on sports games and also pave the way for the online segment to operate under proper regulation.

“Senate Bill 44 puts reasonable regulations to monitor sports betting to make it legal in the state of Missouri. I think that there’s a lot of momentum in getting something done and getting something passed,” Hoskins said.

The second proposal was pre-filed by Representative Cody Smith, who included in his bill the controversial integrity fee that has lit up the discussion in the US after the Supreme Court struck PASPA down.

Rep. Smith’s bill would set an integrity fee that would amount to 1% of total sports handle, to be split in two. 0.75% would be transferred to registered professional leagues and the remaining 0.25% would be paid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, for wagers placed on college sports games.