Odds for more sports betting expansion could fade after rapid growth to 38 states

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — At his home in suburban St. Louis, Brett Koenig can pull out his smartphone and open a sports betting app. But he can't place a bet. He is blocked by a pop-up message indicating that he is not in a legal location.

Missouri is one of dozens of states where sports betting remains illegal, more than five years after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for states to adopt it.

“It just seems silly that everyone else can do it and we can't,” said Koenig, who has launched a social media campaign called “Let MO Play” to rally support for legal sports betting in his home state.

Other states have reaped a total of more than $4 billion in taxes on more than $280 billion wagered on sports since 2018. Vermont will be the last to accept sports betting starting Jan. 11. But the chances of expanding to even more states by 2024 appear doubtful. due to political resistance and the sometimes competing financial interests of existing gaming operators.

“The handful of states that have yet to legalize are the last for a reason: They all face multiple obstacles,” said Becca Giden, policy director at Eilers. & Krejcik Gaming, a California-based consulting firm.

After a “whirlwind” of expansion, the playing field for further sports betting has narrowed to a group of states where various stakeholders all want to “kind of maximize what they get out of the legalization framework,” said Chris Cylke, senior vice president of government relations at American Gaming Association, which represents the industry. “So that could cause some friction.”

The states where sports betting remains illegal are Alabama, Alaska, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.

California and Texas, the country's two most populous states, would be the biggest prizes for sports bettors. But it doesn't seem particularly likely that they will take over in 2024.

California voters overwhelmingly defeated two rival sports betting initiatives last year after a record $463 million were raised by supporters and opponents. The advertising barrage was fueled by divisions among online gaming companies, tribal casinos and horse racing tracks. Those tensions have continued, with Native American tribes objecting to a new sports betting initiative seeking signatures before the 2024 ballot.

The proposed sale of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team to a politically active family that runs the Las Vegas Sands casino company has fueled speculation about a bigger push for legal sports betting in Texas. But the state Legislature is not in regular session in 2024, and Texas does not have the resources to bring citizen initiatives to a vote.

Neighboring Oklahoma already has dozens of tribally run casinos. Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt announced a plan in November to allow in-person sports betting at tribal casinos and online sports betting through state-licensed platforms. But his plan does not appear to have support from the tribes, with whom Stitt has had a falling out.

Minnesota may be the most likely state to allow sports betting, but that would likely require a bipartisan vote in the Senate, where Democrats hold a narrow one-seat lead over Republicans. Lawmakers have struggled over the past year to resolve differences between tribal casinos, which want exclusive rights to online and in-person sports betting, and horse racing tracks, which also want a bigger share of the gambling market. But they will try again.

“From the tribes' perspective, the moment is now, and they would like to see it done this year,” said Democratic Sen. Matt Klein, a sponsor of the sports betting legislation.

Efforts to legalize sports betting in Missouri have repeatedly stalled in the Senate, where Republican Sen. Denny Hoskins insists it must be accompanied by regulation of legally questionable slot-machine-style video games that have cropped up in convenience stores and truck stops. Casinos are against that.

Online sports betting companies, casinos, professional sports teams and video game terminal interests have collectively hired about 80 lobbyists in Missouri.

The St. Louis Cardinals are also leading a coalition of the state's professional sports teams in proposing an initiative petition to place sports betting on the November ballot. But Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden doubts the prospects of both the initiative petition and the legislation, complaining that Missouri “is likely to lose out on some fairly important economic activity.”

Data shows that Missourians are interested in sports betting. From mid-June to mid-December, technology company GeoComply Solutions processed more than 13.5 million location checks from 280,000 devices in Missouri attempting to access mobile sports betting sites. About 48% tried to use sportsbooks in Kansas, and 40% in Illinois. They were prevented from doing so.

When Koenig wants to bet on sports, he drives 45 minutes from his home in Missouri to Illinois. He's not alone.

GeoComply processed 42,000 location checks from 1,900 online sports betting accounts traveling from Missouri to a border town in Illinois over the past six months. When the Kansas City Chiefs hosted the Buffalo Bills on Dec. 10, GeoComply counted 786 location checks from 570 sportsbook accounts traveling to Kansas from Missouri border towns.

“It's very easy for people to cross over, place their bets and then return home and watch the game,” said GeoComply spokesman John Pappas. “We see this thousands of times a day, a week, in every state where it is not legal.”

In Georgia, Republican Governor Brian Kemp has expressed openness to legalizing sports betting. But efforts stalled last year when the Senate rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have let voters decide the issue. The debate is complex because proponents of casinos and horse racing want to use sports betting to also legalize these forms of gambling.

While still a toss-up, Georgia may be the most realistic candidate to allow sports betting in 2024, Giden said. She expects a well-funded lobbying effort from online gambling companies and sports teams, among others.

Legal sports betting in Alabama would also require a constitutional amendment to be approved by voters. In the Legislature, sports betting proposals have become intertwined with broader efforts to expand gambling beyond the current tribal casinos, dog tracks and charitable bingo operators. None have been successful so far.

Republican Sen. Greg Albritton said some lawmakers are working on new gambling legislation that would include casinos, a lottery and sports betting.

“Whatever happens, if I have my way, this issue will be discussed this year,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Kim Chandler contributed from Montgomery, Alabama.