There are legitimate reasons to be wary of Missouri’s Amendment 2, which will ask voters to legalize sports betting statewide. The 10% wagering tax the state would impose is lower than it should be. A similar measure that passed in Kansas a few years ago has proven to be a revenue disappointment for the state. And of course there are the usual societal concerns that any form of gambling brings.
But weighing against all that is one simple fact: Gambling, in this and other forms, is here to stay. Missourians will do it whether their state sanctions and taxes it or not, taking their bets out of state or offshore if there aren’t other options. Legalization allows not only taxation but regulation. And as flawed as the current proposal might be, it’s the only one on offer.
Thus it is with little enthusiasm but plenty of realism that we recommend Missouri voters approve Amendment 2 on Nov. 5 to legalize sports betting here.
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If nothing else, legalization could jump-start a conversation Missouri should be having about the shell game its political leaders have played with gambling revenue for decades, with an eye toward finally reforming it. More on that in a moment.
In addition to the small-L libertarian argument — what sentient adults do with their own money and time is their own business, as long as it hurts no one else — the realism argument is compelling. Sports betting is currently legal in some form in . That includes every state that touches Missouri except Oklahoma (and it’s working on it).
In a real way, continuing to outlaw sports betting here is nothing other than a declaration that Missouri refuses to regulate and tax an activity that will continue happening regardless of what state law says. °Õ³ó²¹³Ù’s dumb.
That said, no one should assume legalized sports betting would be a windfall here. The stingy terms of Amendment 2 — a 10% state tax on gambling revenues to be earmarked for education, with a provision that allows sportsbook companies to deduct certain promotional expenses before reporting revenues — aren’t unusual among state gaming laws, but they aren’t great for taxpayers.
Those terms could have been better had the Missouri Legislature done its job and instituted legalized sports betting legislatively. Thank our state’s unique political dysfunction for instead forcing the issue onto the ballot, which is a clumsier way to do it.
In any case, any new tax revenue is better than none, especially regarding an industry that is going to operate with or without the state’s permission.
The ballot measure specifies that income from the wagering tax (after regulatory expenses and a set-aside for the Compulsive Gambling Prevention Fund) must go to education. To which Missourians would be justified in responding, Yeah, right. They’ve heard this tune before. But this time, it could be an opportunity for reform.
Missourians today understand that the promise of extra education dollars from gambling — the promise originally made with the establishment of the state Lottery and casino industry — has been left unfulfilled.
The Lottery alone has generated some $8 billion for education in the past four decades, in addition to casino revenue. So how is it possible that Missouri still chronically lags behind the national average in both education funding and student performance?
Because instead of treating gambling tax revenue as extra money for schools — which was undeniably the understanding that most Missourians had when they began opening the gambling floodgates — our politicians used that revenue as an excuse to yank other funding away from schools for less urgent priorities, including reckless tax cuts.
°Õ³ó²¹³Ù’s why, in the past 20 years, as that gambling revenue has helped prop up schools, the portion of the state’s general revenue that’s spent on education has dropped significantly, from 36% to 26%, according to an April analysis by the . °Õ³ó²¹³Ù’s the shell game.
If all of this sounds like a good reason not to vote for more legalized gambling, that argument could be made.
Or, this could be an opportunity for Missouri residents to put their elected leaders on notice: If Amendment 2 passes, new revenue will be headed to schools — and we will expect to actually see more money for schools. Bet on it.