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SportsTranscript
00:00All right, let's get started here, Missouri, one of the states we're keeping an eye on
00:07as far as getting sports betting going.
00:09Seems like the sports betting operators are also jumping on board.
00:12What's the latest with DraftKings and their attempt to help out Missouri here a little
00:16bit?
00:17Yeah, so just a little bit of history.
00:19If you don't tune into the show all the time when I just speak about Missouri ad nauseum
00:23for the last three years and how much they've struggled, you know, they've had a couple
00:27legislative pushes that have gotten over the hump in the House that had been supported
00:31by the casinos in the state, the sports books in the state, the sports teams in the states,
00:36particularly the St. Louis Cardinals.
00:38And then after the latest failure, which the House didn't even send to the Senate because
00:42there's a single senator over there saying, I don't want sports betting unless it's connected
00:47to video lottery terminals, which are those slot machines you see in gas stations and
00:51the like.
00:52And in Missouri, there's a certain, you know, rule that basically a single lawmaker can
00:57kill a piece of legislation.
01:00Finally, the stakeholders got fed up and they said, listen, we're just going to put this
01:04to the people.
01:06And so beginning last fall, there was a big ballot push.
01:09They needed 170,000 signatures to put it on the ballot.
01:13They got 370,000, turned it in early.
01:16It was verified just last week to be on the ballot in November.
01:21Up until last week, or through the ballot signature gathering push, we've had about
01:27$6.5 million donated from both FanDuel and DraftKings.
01:31So you know, the big sports books are saying, hey, we want this to happen.
01:36But then there was a couple months of nothing happening, and I think that was just because
01:39you're waiting to put it on the ballot.
01:41Well, now that it's on the ballot, DraftKings on Friday, according to the Missouri Ethics
01:45Commission, donated a $3.5 million check to the Winning for Missouri Education.
01:52It's called that because the sports betting funds in this proposal would go to fund Missouri's
01:59teachers, which are some of the most underpaid in the country.
02:04And you know, I talked to the spokesperson for Winning for Missouri Education, which
02:09everybody pointed me to, whether it was DraftKings or the Sports Betting Association.
02:17They all pointed me to Jack Cardetti, who said, you know, over the next 11 weeks, we're
02:20just going to use the money that we get.
02:22We're going to use the time to educate voters, to get this on everybody's minds, and show
02:28that why it's important.
02:31Now when we get to November, it's going to be close.
02:33I don't think there's any doubting that.
02:36We've had a lot of polling over the last two years.
02:39Earlier this year, we've seen, you know, 60% saying they're supportive of sports betting
02:46funds going to education.
02:47That was a couple of polls.
02:49More recently, we've seen a poll that was really split, and it was about 40% said they
02:53were for it, you know, 30% said they weren't, and then the remaining were kind of undecided.
02:59So it's going to be a close vote.
03:02It's going to be really interesting to watch.
03:04You know, I'd heard rumors that there would be some opposition from some significant parties.
03:09Haven't heard anything more.
03:10Of course, that would be filed in, you know, at the governmental level.
03:14So I'm watching that closely to see if there is any big parties that pop up in opposition.
03:19So far, so good.
03:21And yeah, it's going to be just a really close race.
03:24And you have to wonder, after having two close calls in the legislature this year, kind of
03:29just a wash, and that single senator being out of the Senate next year, what happens
03:35if it fails?
03:36And that's going to be something even more interesting post-November, is if it doesn't
03:41get passed by voters, what does the legislator think?
03:44Do they think, well, the people don't really want this?
03:47Do we still take this up as a big issue?
03:50And so there's a lot of things riding on this ballot proposal in November, and we'll see.
03:56And it's huge for the industry, because there's no North American, well, I guess Alberta,
04:00which we'll talk about tomorrow probably, but there's no U.S. market on the horizon
04:05for U.S. sportsbooks.
04:07So this is a huge reason why DraftKings and FanDuel are putting a lot of money in Missouri.