The lawsuit that could put the Missouri sports betting ballot question in jeopardy has a hearing date next week.
On Friday, the Cole County Circuit Court set a hearing date of September 5 for Jacqueline Wood Et Al v. John Ashcroft. Political consultants Wood and Blake Lawrence filed the suit last week against Ashcroft, the Missouri Secretary of State, challenging the validity of the certification process to put MO sports betting on the November ballot.
The Secretary of State’s office and its attorneys declined to comment on the case. Lawrence and plaintiff attorney Matt Vianello directed LSR to Brad Ketcher, the lawyer handling media for the plaintiffs. Ketcher has not returned LSR’s requests for comment.
Suit challenges certification process
The lawsuit argues the Secretary of State’s office used figures from the 2020 gubernatorial election to determine how many signatures were needed in each district. The initiative needed signatures from 8% of legal voters in six of eight congressional districts, adding up to at least 170,000 signatures.
Winning for Missouri Education, the committee behind the initiative, turned in approximately 370,000 signatures before the May 5 deadline.
State congressional districts were redrawn following the 2020 election. The suit said the new map was used to determine where the signatures were gathered, which would have resulted in insufficient figures in the 1st and 5th Congressional Districts.
With that change, only four of eight congressional districts received adequate signatures, the suit argues.
Winning for Missouri Education ready to intervene
After the plaintiffs filed the suit against Ashcroft, Winning for Missouri Education submitted a motion to intervene on Thursday. The committee’s petition said it has a vested interest in the ballot question because it led the signature gathering and has a better position to defend the process than Ashcroft.
“This effort to decertify our ballot inactive is completely without merit, as Missourians came out in force to sign the petition that will be on the ballot in November,” St. Louis Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III said in a statement.
The court found Winning for Missouri Education to have an interest in the case.
Path to Missouri sports betting ballot
Winning for Missouri Education, led by the Cardinals and other Missouri sports teams, backed failed legislative efforts the past three years. The efforts were stymied by Sen. Denny Hoskins, who wanted to include video lottery terminal legalization in the bills.
Even prior to the lack of movement this session, DeWitt told LSR the ballot initiative would be in full force for 2024. The campaign used more than $6.5 million from DraftKings and FanDuel to gather the signatures.
Ashcroft’s office certified the question for the ballot earlier this month. DraftKings then contributed another $3.5 million to the campaign to help educate Missouri voters.
Sports betting on November ballot
With a simple majority at the polls in November, voters could legalize Missouri sports betting.
It would create online and in-person sportsbook licenses for the state’s casino parent companies and sports teams, and establish two standalone licenses for the Missouri Gaming Commission to allocate.
If successful, the question establishes a 10% tax on sports betting revenue.
Polling split in Missouri
Missouri sports betting polling signifies there is no significant majority in sports betting opinions.
Winning for Missouri Education sites two polls that show approximately 60% support for the issue.
However, a more recent poll from Emerson College and Nexstar Media found 38.3% of voters are in favor of sports betting. Another 26.3% are undecided, according to the survey.
