ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas. What do those states have in common? For one, they are just some of the 37 states to have legalized sports betting. Another: they also share a border with Missouri, who has yet to get it legalized.
Missouri has seen rampant efforts to have gambling legalized in the state for the past two years with rampant supporters on both sides of the border. The Kansas City Chiefs, Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals have all voiced their support for the legalization of sports gambling, with the Cardinals being notably the biggest spearhead on that effort.
Legislatures have been working to get a bill to make sports betting legal, but it has failed to get passed in the Senate. Sen. Denny Hoskins’, R-Warrensburg, has been seen as the biggest reason by both Republican and Democratic state lawmakers for the reason why it has failed in the last two years.
However, one expert says that Hoskins isn't the only reason for why Missouri has failed to make sports gambling legal.
Steve Rogers, an Associate Professor of Political Science at SLU, joined Total Information A.M. to discuss the legislative session that will get underway this week with sports gambling no doubt being a topic of conversation again.
Rogers expects the topic to be a big point of discussion again but if the decision has to go to a vote statewide, their could be some opposition across the state.
Rogers found that when he did polling data when it comes to sports betting, there isn't a big support across the state for it as it seemed.
"We did some polling on this last year and we only found that only about 35% of Missouri likely vote are actually in favor of betting on professional and collegiate sports in the state of Missouri," said Rogers. "Another poll done by Missouri Scout only found that about 26% of Missourians are in favor of this."
Rogers says many rural areas are against sports gambling due to a potential belief the bill would only benefit St. Louis and Kansas City.
"A lot of rural voters may be kind of thinking it's 'like, well, this is another thing that Kansas City or Saint Louis is getting. It's not necessarily something that's gonna benefit me as much.'" said Rogers. " It'll be interesting as the Cardinals, Chiefs and the Blues, for example, put money behind this petition if it hits the ballot whether public opinion will change."