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A Missouri circuit court judge upheld the Missouri sports betting initiative, keeping it on the November ballot.
Missouri Cole County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Green ruled in favor of Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft on all counts attempting to invalidate his certification of the initiative.
Jack Cardetti, spokesperson for the Winning for Missouri Education campaign backing Amendment 2, issued the following statement on the court’s decision:
“Today’s ruling, while expected, is nevertheless a big victory for Missourians, who overwhelmingly want to join the 38 other states that allow sports betting, so that we can provide tens of millions in permanent, dedicated funding each year to our public schools. For too many years, Missourians have watched as fans cross state lines to place sport bets, which deprives our Missouri public schools of much needed funding. A vote for Amendment 2 in November will bring those dollars back to Missouri classrooms.”
Missouri court ruling explained
The most compelling of four claims alledged that at least 83 signatures validated for Congressional District 1 should not have counted. The initiative only qualified by 82 voters in that district.
In a hearing Thursday, plaintiffs presented 768 signatures they wanted the court to invalidate for reasons such as the signatures didn’t match the voter, addresses for the voter didn’t match those on file, or the person was not eligible to vote.
The court dismissed the credibility of the plaintiffs’ paid handwriting expert, who had no previous knowledge of the signatures of the voters in question.
Also, cards submitted to evidence showing inactive voter status were printed after the lawsuit was filed. That means they don’t indicate the voter status at the time the petition was signed.
Even if some of those petition signatures were invalid, the initiative campaign, approved as an intervenor in the case, submitted an additional 652 signatures that should have been counted in the district.
Other claims questioned the Secretary of State’s method for verifying signatures and certifying initiatives. Those claims included that the state enacted redistricting since the last gubernatorial election, on which the Secretary based initiative signature requirements. Another argued that each district should have the same requirements.
If the court invalidated the initiative on those claims, it would have invalidated every initiative on the ballot this year.
In the ruling, the judge explained that “the method the Secretary used was the same as that used by other Secretaries of State and is the same method the Secretary used to certify all initiatives in 2022 and 2024.”
The judge ruled that, even if there are other viable interpretations, the court must allow Missourians to vote on the sports betting initiative if any interpretation of the constitution and statutes supports the Secretary’s method of determining the required number of signatures.
Appeal becoming unlikely
Claimants were expected to appeal. However, with a final ruling required by Tuesday to finalize the ballot and an appeal not filed by Monday afternoon, it appears they will accept the original decision.
The parties behind the lawsuit are a bit of a mystery. Jacqueline Wood and Blake Lawrence are Missouri-based political consultants. During the hearing, an Winning for Missouri Education counsel Charles Hatfield questioned Wood on who asked her to file the lawsuit. She responded one of her attorneys.
They are represented by attorney Marc Ellinger, who earlier this year represented the Missouri Gaming Association.
The Missouri Gaming Association is made up of the 13 Missouri casinos. Missouri casinos joined with Missouri sports teams and national online gaming operators in jointly supporting Missouri sports betting legislative efforts the past three years.
The St. Louis Cardinals led a group of six Missouri sports teams in filing the initiative. However, online gaming operators FanDuel and DraftKings funded the $10 million campaign to qualify the initiative for the ballot.
According to sources, some casino companies were unhappy with the initiative. In particular, they find ambiguity in the language around skins. Some believe it could be interpreted as allowing one mobile app per casino company rather than casino. Caesars Entertainment and Penn Entertainment each operate three casinos in Missouri.
The lawsuit likely is a precursor to an opposition campaign planned against the Missouri sports betting initiative.
