Home » Missouri ballot campaigns to legalize sports betting and new casino fueled by record spending

Missouri ballot campaigns to legalize sports betting and new casino fueled by record spending

Missouri ballot campaigns to legalize sports betting and new casino fueled by record spending

Wednesday, October 16, 2024 3:43 PM

Image aggregated from Missouri Independent.

  • Rudi Keller, Missouri Independent

It’s time to bet the over-under on how much will be spent this year on gambling ballot measures in Missouri.

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A good mark might be $60 million. Online bookies poured $32 million so far into the Amendment 2 campaign to legalize sports betting, and a casino company grumpy about the deal countered with $14 million to defeat it.

The campaign for Amendment 5, to authorize a new casino at the Lake of the Ozarks, adds $9.4 million — bringing the total to more than $55 million.

Winning for Missouri Education, the Amendment 2 campaign funded by DraftKings and FanDuel, has already set a record for the most money donated to a ballot measure campaign. The previous record was $31 million raised by supporters of a 2006 proposal to protect stem cell research.