KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.

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Kansas City voters pushed amendment 2 across the finish line Tuesday, bringing legal sports gambling to the state.

Amendment 2 passed in only 20 of Missouri’s 114 counties, and saw more than 55 percent in just six counties, including five that border Kansas.

Collectively, Kansas City-area voters in the border counties — Buchanan, Cass, Clay, Platte and Jackson counties, including Kansas City, Missouri — passed Amendment 2 with nearly 58.4 percent of the vote. Nationally, the amendment was adopted with less than 50.1% of the vote.

“In Kansas City, you have that dynamic where you know sports betting is happening right across State Line Road there,” said Winning for Missouri Education spokesman Jack Cardetti. “In fact, we know that 10 out of every 1,000 Missourians actively travel there each month to bet on sports and then return to the state of Missouri.

“It didn’t make any sense from a public policy standpoint, and I think just that kind of image and the making of it helped voters in Kansas City, in particular, get a yes on Amendment 2.”

As results continued to trickle in Wednesday morning, Amendment 2’s margin of victory narrowed to less than 4,400 votes, according to Missouri Secretary of State’s unofficial numbers.

It passed by nearly 78,900 votes — 274,160 to 195,306 — in the five border counties in the Kansas City area.

“It was definitely a close election,” Cardetti said. “A ballot initiative has never had this much money spent against it in the history of Missouri, actually, so the fact that we were able to overcome that and really see support from all different areas of the state was overwhelming. But I have to say, it was Kansas City and Kansas City voters that really put us over the top last night.”

Winning for Missouri Education is the political action committee funded by FanDuel and DraftKings to support Amendment 2.

Under Missouri law, when the margin of victory in a statewide race is less than 0.5 percent, a party with status can request a recount, but Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment, a PAC funded by Caesars Entertainment to oppose Amendment 2, he said Wednesday. that he does not intend to request a recount.

“Thank you to the thousands of Missourians who voted ‘no’ on Amendment 2,” the campaign said in an email to KSHB 41 News. “We are grateful for the many, many organizations and constituents who have supported our coalition, and we extend our congratulations to Winning for Missouri Education. We look forward to finding ways to work together for the benefit of all Missourians.”

It has been 10 years since Missouri had a recount for a constitutional amendment and final certification of an exploitation right the amendment did not change the result.

Amendment 2 received support in St. Louis, where three counties border Illinois, which legalized sports gambling five years ago.

Several mid-Missouri counties and scattered counties that share a border near out-of-state casinos, such as Lewis and Pemiscot counties in eastern Missouri, have also adopted Amendment 2.

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“This was definitely popular in St. Louis,” Cardetti said. “But throughout the campaign, our internal polling, we showed Kansas City, the Kansas City media market, as the biggest supporters of this. I don’t think you can overstate how many sports fans you have in Kansas City, and honestly what a great time it is to be a Kansas City sports fan, whether you’re hosting playoff baseball games at “The K” or going to a game on the world’s first purpose-built riverfront professional women’s stadium, or, obviously, back-to-back Super Bowl championships.”

Cardetti also credited the support of Missouri’s professional sports teams — the Kansas City Chiefs, Current and Royals, along with the Blues, Cardinals and St. Louis City SC – to adopt Amendment 2.

“Honestly, this couldn’t have happened without the six professional sports teams here in the state of Missouri and some of the best sports fans in the world, so we were thrilled with the outcome last night,” Cardetti said. “Obviously, we’ll be watching the certification process closely, but we don’t expect any change in the outcome.”

Amendment 2 officially becomes a new state law on Dec. 5, which is 30 days after the election, though that could depend on the secretary of state’s final certification, which must be completed before Dec. 10.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Once the election is certified, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said any legal challenges should be resolved.

But that seems unlikely, as the group that opposed Amendment 2 and would have the right to challenge the election results has no plans to call for a recount.

“Generally, it has to be someone who has a dog in a fight,” Ashcroft said of who is able to request a recount. “In general, I think it was claimed that you were on the committee that campaigned for it, you were on the committee that filed it, or you were on the MEC (Missouri Ethics Commission) committee that raised the money and ran campaign ads. against him. Generally, that’s what the courts have looked at, but this is a judicial decision.”

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Ashcroft does not expect the certification process to affect the outcome of Amendment 2.

“My guess is that after certification, the numbers will either be exactly the same or very similar,” he said.

WHEN WILL MISSURIANS GET FRIENDS ON SPORTS?

Amendment 2 gives the Missouri Gaming Commission until December 1, 2025 to launch sports gambling in the state.

Before that, the commission must create rules and regulations for sports betting and then create and process gaming licenses for sports betting operators and staff, but that’s something the staff has been preparing for in recent years.

“They’ve already worked and met with other states that already have sports betting,” Missouri Gaming Commission Chairman Jan Zimmerman said.

So when can Missourians expect to be able to legally gamble in the state?

“We’re looking at the summer to put all of these administrative processes in place,” Zimmerman said.

Cardetti, of course, would love it if sports gambling were launched next month, but he expressed confidence in the Missouri Gaming Commission.

“They’re really seasoned and seasoned regulators,” Cardetti said. “They’ve got a great staff there, so we think they’re going to do a great job implementing this. … We would expect and hope that Missourians will be able to place bets before that. Obviously, I couldn’t give you a timeline. That’s probably up to the Missouri Gaming Commission to say, but I’d definitely like it in time for next year’s NFL season.”

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