Lawsuit aims to block sports betting on Missouri ballot

ST. LOUIS – There is a lawsuit aiming to block the sports betting question from showing up on Missouri’s November ballot.

The Cardinals have been major proponents of trying to legalize sports betting in Missouri, but this lawsuit could throw some curve balls into that whole process.

Mascots for the Cardinals, Blues, and Royals were all in Jefferson City in May, when all of the signatures were delivered to get the sports betting on the November ballot.

There were enough signatures certified by Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft to get the issue on the November ballot, but some citizens question the manner in which he did it.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that a lawsuit, filed in Cole County in Jefferson City by citizens Blake Lawrence and Jacqueline Wood, challenges the methodology used by Ashcroft to certify the signatures.

To get on the ballot, proposed initiative petitions must receive signatures from eight percent of legal voters in six of the eight Missouri congressional districts. The suit contends that Ashcroft didn’t use the correct methods to count the signatures.

It also alleges that not enough signatures were gathered from the St. Louis-based first congressional district and that a significant number of signatures from the first district were not actually legal signatures.

Cardinals President Bill Dewitt III is blasting the suit, saying it is completely without merit. Dewitt told the Post that Missourians came out in force to sign the petition to get the issue on the November ballot.

If voters approve the measure, it would change the Missouri Constitution to allow sports betting. The initiative would include a ten percent revenue tax that would benefit Missouri’s public schools.

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