Missouri Hearings Bring Controversy and Legalization Hope

• On Wednesday hearings were heard in the Missouri legislature revolving around several sports betting bills.
• VLT’s are among the most controversial topics surrounding the bills, backed heavily by “obstructionist” Senator Denny Hoskins who grinded talks last year to a halt with a filibuster.
• Sports franchises have backed sports betting legalization but have largely refused to comment on the aspect of VLTs.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Senate Committee on Appropriations held hearings on Wednesday morning regarding the various sports betting legalization bills. While no official action was taken, Senator Denny Hoskins filibustered for roughly an hour against the lack of provisions regarding video lottery terminals (VLTs) in opposing bills.

The main opposition of Hoskins was Senator Tony Luetkemeyer, who introduced SB30 that importantly omitted VLTs from the language of the bill. While nothing is set in stone as of now, legal betting sites are surely hoping for a swift resolution that will finally legalize sports betting in Missouri.

Hoskins Stalls Talks Over VLTs

Mirroring much of what happened in 2022, Sen. Hoskins has once again held firm in his support for VLTs. The SB1 bill championed by Hoskins allows for VLTs to be placed in areas where liquor is sold such as convenience stores, fraternities, veteran organizations and interstate/truck stops. The main purpose of this would be to solve the issue of “gray machines” which are VLTs that operate in a gray zone of legality across Missouri and therefore are unable to be reliably taxed.

Hoskins’ bill has largely garnered support from businesses that could take advantage of the extra revenue that VLTs provide such as convenience store and truck stop owners. Hoskins has prepared to die on this hill as well, much like he did last year when he performed a nearly four-hour long filibuster that eventually went on to kill the sports betting legalization push.

Professional Sports Teams Back Luetkemeyer

Opposing Hoskins is his Republican colleague Tony Luetkemeyer, who is the leading voice for SB30, which essentially mirrors the broad legalization of sports betting online and in retail that Hoskins’ bill supports, but does not address VLTs.

Most supporters of SB30 include professional sports teams such as the Kansas City Chiefs, St. Louis Blues, and the St. Louis Cardinals. All three of the teams were questioned about VLTs but none made any stance on it, instead reiterating that sports betting is their main concern. Cardinals President Bill DeWitt even proposed that the issue of sports betting legalization and VLTs be separated and voted on at different times.

While DeWitt, Luetkemeyer, and the other supporting teams would love to greatly boost the chances of sports betting being legalized in the state by distancing it from VLTs, Hoskins is apprehensive at best. There is somewhat of a consensus that based on the senator’s current and past rhetoric, he will not allow a single sports betting bill to pass through the Senate unless VLTs are specifically included as a package.

Evidently, Hoskins is attempting to use the widespread support for sports betting legalization in order to shoehorn VLTs into the most amount of convenience stores, truck stops, and gas stations as possible. While this is all under the guise of using that revenue to improve veterans’ homes and cemeteries, legal experts have questioned the legality, as the Missouri constitution states lottery revenue can only be used to aid education.

With bills like SB30 continuing to make their way through Missouri’s legislature despite the best efforts of self-dubbed obstructionist Senator Denny Hoskins, Missouri sportsbooks are hoping that 2023 will finally be the year that sports betting becomes regulated.

News tags: Bill DeWitt | Denny Hoskins | Kansas City Chiefs | Missouri | St. Louis Blues | St. Louis Cardinals | Tony Luetkemeyer