The Missouri Secretary of State’s office is facing a lawsuit for approving a proposed constitutional amendment legalizing sports wagering on the November ballot. The lawsuit argues that the signature certification process was unconstitutional due to incorrect congressional district boundaries being used.
The lawsuit claims that the office used old district boundaries to calculate signature requirements, leading to an insufficient number of valid signatures in the 1st Congressional District. Additionally, the proposal would have failed to meet the threshold in both the 1st and 5th Districts if based on 8% of the 2020 gubernatorial vote.
The initiative, backed by major sports teams and casino companies, aimed to legalize sports betting after legislative failures. Companies like FanDuel and DraftKings contributed $6.3 million to the signature-gathering effort. Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, dismissed the lawsuit as meritless and praised the public response to the petition.
If approved, the amendment would tax sports betting revenue at 10% of net winnings, generating potential revenue of up to $28.9 million annually for education programs. Kansas, which legalized sports wagering in 2022, collected $9.8 million in revenue from $172 million in wagers in June.
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