- Missouri has three bills in the State Senate to legalize sports betting.
- However, a bill in the House would legalize online casino gambling.
- This bill would allow for a 12% tax rate on online gambling, and three skins per casino.
LAS VEGAS - Online sports betting could be coming to the state of Missouri in 2021. There are multiple bills in the Missouri State Senate to legalize sports betting, which the state has not yet done.
In the Missouri House of Representatives, however, there is a bill to legalize online gambling as a whole.
This bill, HB 1364, was introduced on Monday by Rep. Dan Houx (R-54), and could represent an important step forward for online gambling in the United States.
For Missouri, a state that does not even have sports betting yet, the bill would be a huge leap in the direction of further legalization.
HB 1364 Breakdown
Missouri has thirteen riverboat casinos already, and under the provisions of HB 1364, each of them would be allowed three skins, which means there are a potential 36 online casinos under this bill.
In order to operate in the state, casinos would have to apply for licenses, which would cost $50,000 each year.
The bill would tax online casinos at 12%, which is remarkably low, and would be one of the lowest tax rates for online casinos in the United States.
Overall, this bill looks remarkably kind to casino operators who would wish to do business as a skin in the state.
Will The Bill Pass?
This is a difficult question to answer, although it seems fairly unlikely in the context of Missouri politics.
While there is a lot of attention on sports betting, and Missouri could very reasonably legalize that practice in this legislative session, this bill might go too far too soon.
The bill has not made it to a committee yet, and that is the first hurdle it needs to pass.
Should it pass the committee, it then must pass the House itself, at which point it would be sent to the Senate - which is already looking at three separate sports betting bills.
This could present some further problems for the bill, which is already in a tenuous spot.
Overall, there are several major hurdles to jump for this bill, and while the fact that it’s being proposed is likely good for moving the conversation in the direction of legal online gambling, it seems relatively unlikely to pass in 2021.