Missouri is set to become the 39th US state to legalize sports betting following the September 6th ruling to have the initiative on the November ballot.
After a 7-hour hearing, presiding Missouri Cole County Court Judge Daniel Green ruled in favor of Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft on all counts seeking to invalidate the initiative certification.
The ruling, which was reasonably expected, placed Missouri in pole position to become the latest state to allow regulated sports betting. Jack Cardetti, spokesperson for the Winning for Missouri Education Campaign, had this to say following the court's decision:
"Today's ruling, while expected, is nevertheless a big victory for Missourians, who overwhelmingly want to join the 38 other states that allow sports betting, so that we can provide tens of millions in permanent, dedicated funding each year to our public schools. For too many years, Missourians have watched as fans cross state lines to place sports bets, which deprives our Missouri public schools of much-needed funding. A vote for Amendment 2 in November will bring those dollars back to Missouri classrooms."
Details on Missouri Court Ruling
The plaintiff's most compelling claim against the initiative was that at least 83 signatures for Congressional District 1 should be invalidated. The initiative was only qualified by 82 voters in this district.
During the hearing, the plaintiff presented 768 signatures for invalidations, citing several reasons, including ineligible voters, signatures not matching voters, and addresses of voters not matching those on files.
The court dismissed the plaintiff's handwriting expert's ineligible/invalid claims since they did not have previous knowledge of voters' signatures. So, poor credibility was the decision here. Also, the judge refused to acknowledge cards presented as evidence for inactive voter status because they were printed after the lawsuit was filed.
As a counterclaim to the invalid voter's allegation, the initiative campaign, approved as an intervenor in the case, presented an additional 652 signatures that should have been counted in Congressional District 1.
Other claims from the plaintiff questioned the Secretary of State's signature verification methods and initiative certification. One claim was that the state enacted redistricting since the last election, on which the initiative was based. Another argued that every district should have the same requirements. However, the court mentioned the impossibility of invalidating signatures on these grounds as it would imply the dismissal of other approved initiatives on the ballot this year.
Judge Daniel stated that "the method the Secretary used was the same as that used by other Secretaries of State and is the same method the Secretary used to certify all initiatives in 2022 and 2024." He also clarified that Missourians should be allowed to vote on the initiative if the secretary's method of determining the required number of signatures aligns with any interpretation of the constitution or statutes.
Is There a Possible Appeal Coming Up?
No. There won't be an appeal since the ruling was finalized on Tuesday 10th. So, it is official. The sports betting initiative will be on the ballot, and Missourians get to decide what they want. Based on our findings, it is very likely that the state will be the newest dog in the sports betting block.
FanDuel and DraftKings were the initiative's biggest sponsors, funding a $10 million support campaign. However, it is not all glow and glee, with several casinos wary about the certain ambiguity in the initiative's.
The primary complaint centered around the possibility of interpreting the initiative as allowing just one mobile app per casino. Penn and Caesars Entertainment operates three distinct casinos in Missouri and finds such a guideline quite constraining. We believe there will be more clarity regarding this issue in the coming weeks.
