States promised revenue windfalls in sports betting legalization push

The professional sports teams located in Missouri, who are all supporters of Amendment 2, a ballot initiative that would allow sports betting in Missouri and utilize the resulting tax income to fund education, submitted colorful team mascots to the Missouri Secretary of State's Office.

Mascots, direct democracy, and funding for children all seemed like good things. However, opponents of Amendment 2 claim that corporate gaming interests used the mascots as weapons that day by making exaggerated claims regarding school funding.

FanDuel and DraftKings, two of the largest sports betting companies in the United States, are supporting the Amendment 2 campaign in addition to Missouri's sports teams. Together, those two businesses have invested over $36 million to support Amendment 2.

Thirty-eight states have legalized sports betting, allowing customers to place bets on the results of games ranging from professional darts to NBA basketball, after the US Supreme Court lifted long-standing gambling regulations in 2018. Missouri voted to become number thirty-nine as a result of the successful signature drive.

The gambling industry is paying millions to implement a tactic they have mastered from coast to coast: downplaying mounting evidence that legalized gambling is hurting people while promising revenues that will address a specific statewide concern. This is to ensure that gambling legalization keeps growing. Critics of the sector contend that legalization initiatives in states such as Missouri are a first step toward a more ambitious national objective: the legalization of iGaming, a highly profitable form of mobile betting.

Amendment 2 in Missouri pledges additional funding for education, a pledge previously made in states ranging from Tennessee to New York. However, gambling claims to be able to fix other state-level issues as well. Concerned about climate change? Accommodations? Infrastructure? The business claims that tax money from gambling is here to help!

Colorado's water shortage problems are partially addressed by the money collected from casino taxes. The promise was daycare support in Washington, DC, where parents have to deal with the highest family expenses in the nation. Its purpose in South Dakota is to promote tourism, which is a vital component of the state's economy. It is used for infrastructure in Mississippi, where the roads have been in poor condition for many years.

In California, the funds were earmarked to address the state’s severe homelessness problem, but the voters rejected a ballot initiative in 2022 that would have legalized sports betting.

Some states have managed to make sports betting profitable. New York's tax rate, which is set at a nation-leading 51 percent, has generated nearly $2 billion since the state legalized sports gambling in 2021, despite ongoing opposition to the high tax rate by the industry.

The industry is already planning its next campaign, which will involve legalizing iGaming across the US, even as it continues to advocate for the expansion of sports gambling across the country. iGaming simulates the well-known and highly addictive casino games, such as slots, that are now permitted in only seven states but in many other nations.

Because one can only wager on a sporting event that is actually happening anywhere in the world, sports gambling is inherently restricted. Customers can wager on iGaming at any time of day. According to industry analysts, iGaming makes three times as much money per person as sports gambling, which means that bettors lose three times as much.

Source:

“The Predatory Gambling Industry Is Misleading Voters”, Amos Barshad, jacobin.com, retrieved April 18, 2025.