A minimum of one Missouri sports activities betting invoice will start its journey subsequent week.
The Missouri Home Rising Points Committee will hear HB 556 on Thursday, Feb. 9. The invoice is Rep. Dan Houx’s latest effort for MO sports activities betting after his laws cleared the Home final yr.
Houx’s invoice ran right into a Senate roadblock, as Sen. Denny Hoskins hoped to incorporate video lottery terminals (VLT) within the legislation. Hoskins launched a brand new sports activities betting invoice this yr, which was referred to the Appropriations Committee.
Missouri Home effort mirrors 2022
Like final yr, a coalition of Missouri casinos and sports activities groups and US sportsbooks backs Houx’s invoice.
The invoice creates 39 cell skins and permits for retail sportsbooks on the state’s 13 riverboat casinos.
The laws would tax sports activities betting income at 10%, a charge that finally lowered to eight% throughout the 2022 session. Houx additionally inserted language this yr to ban prop bets on school athletes.
Senate sluggish to take up Hoskins invoice
Regardless of carrying the honors of SB 1, Hoskins’s invoice has not acquired a lot motion but. Hoskins saved the sports activities betting portion of the invoice in step with what casinos and sports activities groups desired.
Nevertheless, the invoice contains language to legalize VLTs, which he argues have a lot better tax-generating potential.
The on line casino business strongly opposes the inclusion of VLTs and the problem created gridlock within the Senate final yr. Hoskins advised LSR in December he doesn’t imagine a sports activities betting-only invoice would have sufficient votes to go each chambers.
Business cautious on Missouri sports activities betting
At instances over the last legislative session, it appeared Missouri was on observe to legalize sports activities betting, spurred by its aggressive nature with its neighbor, Kansas. Whereas Kansas sports activities betting launched in September, the outlook for Missouri sports activities betting is much less rosy, largely due to the VLT situation.
An business supply advised LSR they assume the Home invoice will go by way of the chamber with out situation. “[The] situation would be the Senate,” the supply stated.
A number of sources stated there is no such thing as a approach the casinos settle for a compromise together with VLTs. One supply stated whereas Penn Leisure and MGM would possibly soften their stance on VLTs, “there is no such thing as a approach Boyd and Caesars are going together with it.”