Sports betting on Missouri ballot awaits judge decision

ST. LOUIS – More questions arise about whether an initiative that could legalize sports betting in Missouri will appear on the November ballot.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch had the details on the story as the latest court hearing on the issue points to possible problems in the St. Louis area that could knock the initiative off the November ballot.

Back in May, the mascots from the Cardinals, the Blues, and the Royals were in Jefferson City to deliver the signatures required to put the issue before voters and potentially amend Missouri’s constitution to allow sports betting.

To get on the ballot, proposed initiative petitions must receive signatures from eight percent of legal voters in six of Missouri’s eight congressional districts.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft certified enough signatures for the measure to be on the November ballot. But a lawsuit was filed challenging the way Ashcroft certified the signatures and questioning whether enough signatures were collected in St. Louis’ first congressional district.

The Post Dispatch reports that at a hearing Thursday in Jefferson City, sports betting opponents argued that as many as 768 signatures from Missouri’s first district were improperly counted and should be thrown out.

If that were to happen, then the required amount of signatures would fall short and the effort would not make the ballot. But an attorney for sports betting supporters argued that the certification was correct and that some 650 signatures that were not previously counted should be added to the total.

A quick decision is expected from Judge Daniel Green. The deadline to remove proposed constitutional amendments from the November 5th ballot is this coming Tuesday, September 10 at 5 pm.

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