At his home in suburban St. Louis, Brett Koenig can pull out his smartphone and open a sports app, but he can’t bet. He is blocked by a pop-up message stating that he is not in a legal location.
Missouri is one of a dozen states where sports wagering remains illegal more than five years after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for states to adopt it.
“It just seems silly that everyone else can do it and we can’t,” said Koenig, who has launched a social media campaign called “Let MO Play” to rally support for legal sports betting in his home state.
Other states have collected a total of more than $4 billion in taxes on more than $280 billion wagered on sports since 2018. Vermont will become the last to settle for sports betting, starting Jan. 11. But the chances of expansion to other states seem doubtful. in 2024, due to political resistance and competing monetary interests of existing gambling operators.
“The handful of states that haven’t legalized yet are last for a reason: They all have obstacles,” said Becca Giden, policy director at Eilers
After a “whirlwind” of expansion, the sports betting sector has shrunk to an organization of states where stakeholders “need to maximize what they get from the legalization framework,” said Chris Cylke, senior vice president. government relations at the American Gaming Association, which represents the industry. ” So, it can create friction. “
The states where sports betting remains illegal are Alabama, Alaska, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.
California and Texas, the two most populous states in the country, would be the biggest payouts for sports bettors, but neither is more likely to adopt it in 2024.
Voters in California last year overwhelmingly defeated two rival sports betting initiatives following a record $463 million raised by supporters and opponents. The advertising barrage was fueled by divisions among online gaming companies, tribal casinos and horse tracks. Those tensions have continued, with Native American tribes objecting to a new sports betting initiative that is seeking signatures to appear on the 2024 ballot.
The proposed sale of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team to a politically active family that runs the Las Vegas Sands casino company has raised speculation of a bigger push for legal sports betting in Texas. But the state Legislature is not in regular session in 2024, and Texas has no means of placing citizen initiatives on the ballot.
Neighboring Oklahoma already has many tribe-run casinos. Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt announced a plan in November to allow in-person sports betting at tribal casinos and online sports betting through state-licensed platforms. But his plan doesn’t seem to have the support of the tribes with which Stitt is in conflict.
Minnesota might be the second most likely state to allow sports betting, but that would likely require a bipartisan vote in the Senate, where Democrats have a slight merit of one seat over Republicans. Last year, lawmakers fought over differences between tribes: casinos, which need exclusive rights for online and in-person sports betting, and racetracks, which also need a larger percentage of the gambling market. But they’ll check again.
“From a tribal perspective, the time is right and they would like to see it done this year,” said Sen. Matt Klein, D-Md. , who is sponsoring the sports legislation.
Efforts to legalize sports betting in Missouri have been continually blocked in the state Senate, where Republican Sen. Denny Hoskins insists they will have to be accompanied by regulation of legally dubious slot-type video games that have popped up at retail stores and truck stops. . Casinos oppose this.
Online sports wagering companies, casinos, professional sports teams and video gaming terminal interests have combined to hire about 80 lobbyists in Missouri.
The St. Louis Cardinals are also leading a coalition of professional sports groups in the state proposing a petition to put sports betting on the November ballot. But Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden doubts clients of the initiative petition and the legislation, lamenting that Missouri may simply “lose likely significant economic activity. “
The data suggests that Missourians are interested in sports betting. From mid-June to mid-December, startup GeoComply Solutions processed more than 13. 5 million location checks from 280,000 devices in Missouri attempting to access mobile sports betting sites. About 48% were looking to use sports betting in Kansas and 40% in Illinois. They were not allowed to do so.
When Koenig wants to bet on sports, he drives 45 minutes from his Missouri home to Illinois. He is not alone.
GeoComply processed 42,000 location checks from 1,900 online sports betting accounts that traveled from Missouri to an Illinois border town in the past six months. When the Kansas City Chiefs hosted the Buffalo Bills on Dec. 10, GeoComply tallied 786 location checks from 570 sportsbook accounts traveling from Missouri border towns into Kansas.
“It’s very easy for people to cross over, place their bets and then return to their home and watch the game,” GeoComply spokesman John Pappas said. “We see this thousands of times a day, a week, in any given state where it’s not legal.”
In Georgia, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has said he’s open to legalizing sports betting. But efforts stalled last year when the Senate rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed the electorate to address the issue. The debate is complex because proponents of casinos and horse racing need to take advantage of sports betting to legalize gambling bureaucracy as well.
Although it’s still a matter of luck, Georgia may be the most realistic candidate to allow sports in 2024, Giden said. She expects a well-funded lobbying effort from online operators and sports teams.
To legally bet on sports in Alabama also would require a constitutional amendment approved by voters. In the Legislature, sports wagering proposals have become intertwined with broader efforts to expand gambling beyond the current tribal casinos, dog racing tracks and charitable bingo operators. None have been successful yet.
Republican Sen. Greg Albritton said some lawmakers are running for a new gambling law that would include casinos, lotteries and sports betting.
“Whatever happens, if I get what I want, this factor will be discussed this year,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Kim Chandler contributed from Montgomery, Alabama.