Operators increase donations to opposing Missouri sports betting lobby groups
DraftKings has ramped up funding to Winning for Missouri Education while Caesars donates more money to Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment
Leading operators have further increased donations to lobby groups supporting and opposing the introduction of sports betting legislation in Missouri, with the election a little over a month away.
According to filings with the Missouri Ethics Commission (MEC), DraftKings donated an additional $5m to the pro-sports betting group Winning for Missouri Education this week on October 1.
The latest pledge brings DraftKings’s total donation to the group, made via its parent company DK Crown Holdings, to $15m, following on from an earlier $5m contribution in September.
The operator also donated $3.5m to the group back in August, adding to a $4m pledge from FanDuel earlier this year.
On the opposing side, anti-sports betting group Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment (MADOGA) received $6.7m worth of funding from Caesars Entertainment.
From that amount, $3.4m came from Caesars’ Isle of Capri Boonville casino, $3.3m was donated from the operator’s Harrah’s North Kansas City site, and an additional $5,254 came via Caesars Enterprise Services.
Caesars’ donations to MADOGA have now surpassed the $10m mark, adding to its initial $4m contribution in September when the group formed.
Missouri citizens will have the chance to vote on whether sports betting should be legalized the Show-Me state after the legislation, dubbed Amendment 2, was added to the ballot for November’s election.
Winning for Missouri Education was instrumental in the bill’s addition, collecting the minimum 180,000 signatures required for Amendment 2 to be included in the vote.
Despite a legal dispute over the legitimacy of the gathered signatures, a Missouri county court ruled the bill could still be included on the November ballot.
MADOGA has strongly opposed the bill’s inclusion, claiming operators will be able to avoid paying tax revenues to the state and that there’s no guarantee any money raised through sports betting will go towards funding education in Missouri as promised.
Missouri gubernatorial candidates, Governor Mike Kehoe (Republican) and state representative Crystal Quade (Democrat), both gave their support to the bill during the first set of debates last month.
The US election is set to be held on November 5.