Missourians prepare to vote on Amendment 2 as television ads continue to sway

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - It’s a pretty safe bet you’ve seen a television ad either supporting or opposing Missouri Amendment 2. That’s the amendment that would legalize sports betting in the Show-Me State, and on Nov. 5, voters will decide if they’re all in on sports gambling or whether it’s time to fold.

One television ad says sports betting in Missouri is a must.

Another says sports betting is a bust.

KCTV5 asked UMKC political science professor Beth Vonnahme to break down both advertisements.

“If I were a voter, I would ignore both of these advertisements and I would focus more on how I feel about sports betting and whether I think sports betting should be legal,” Vonnahme said.

Amendment 2 seeks to put Missouri in the company of 38 other states that allow sports betting. The “vote yes” ad promotes it would be a boon for education as Missouri would receive millions of dollars in revenue to go to public schools and higher education.

“By legalizing sports betting amendment 2 will generate more than 100 million dollars for our schools over the next 5 years,” Vonnahme continued.

But, the “vote no” advertisement questions just how much money would go to Missouri schools and says those looking to legalize sports betting are being “deceptive.”

“Two is a massive expansion of online gambling that allows out-of-state corporations to pay zero to Missouri schools,” another television ad read.

“I also would have people re-read the part that talks about the funds going towards education,” Vonnahme said. “It doesn’t actually say additional funds for education.”

Sports betting is already legal in Kansas. We’ve reported on the scores of Missourians who cross the border to make their “legal” wagers in Kansas. Video from a recent Sunday morning of those crossing the state line reveals most do so to make their bets before the noon NFL games. All the cars pulled over in Kansas have Missouri plates.

Studies show the group of people getting into legal online sports betting are primarily young men and especially young college men. That’s why we went to the University of Kansas to see what we could find out. So, we headed to the Wagon Wheel, popular with students and a longtime Lawrence hotspot.

“I do a lot fo college football and the NFL, but I also like hockey... NHL,” said Tom Couture, a senior at KU.

Couture is all in on online sports betting. The KU senior told me he has six, yes six, sports gambling apps on his phone.

“I got DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars, BetMGM, Barstool and Fanatics,” Couture continued.

If you check Connor Krause’s phone and you’ll find three sports betting apps.

“Pro, college, NFL is definitely my favorite to bet on, but I’ve been getting into hockey as of last year and it’s pretty fun,” Krause another KU senior told us.

“Every single night I feel like when I go out, somebody is gambling, doing their sports betting on their phone,” said Serena Zakharia, a KU student.

That is concerning to Kevin Pisciotta. The KU assistant professor of finance co-wrote a paper titled, “Gambling away stability: Sports betting’s impact on vulnerable households.” He said the first think he sees with online sports betting is that it leads to people who are willing to gamble with money they might ordinarily have saved.

“We also find that people run up credit card balances,” Pisciotta said. “So they’re not just substituting away money that they would have put in savings, but they seem to be expanding how much money they’re accessing through debt.”

According to Kindbridge Behavioral Health, 20% of the adult male population are now or have been in debt from sports betting.

“I have a buddy myself who’s in a little trouble... but I think it’s one of those things you have to figure out yourself... I know it’s an addiction,” Krause admitted.

The Center for Public Justice says 20-year-old males now account for 40% of the calls to hotlines for gambling addiction.

Women gamble too. Serena Zakharia started winning immediately after downloading a sports betting app.

“Then I lost all the money and I was like okay this isn’t for me and I deleted the app and never touched it again... but it was fun... when I saw that I was making money I was like this is exciting,” Zakharia told us.

The students we talked with at The Wheel say they gamble for entertainment and are not having any problems. But they do admit that once you download a betting app... gambling becomes super simple.

“Just so easy. I mean, you wake up in the morning and you can bet,” Pasciotta concluded. “And you can check your bets anytime and tweak them or respond to promotions or like you’re saying bonus bets or these special promoted parlay bets. You can just as soon as you see the ad... immediately engage.”

There are some heavy hitters backing a yes vote on sports betting. The Kansas City Chiefs, the Royals, the Kansas City Current and the St. Louis Cardinals have all endorsed Amendment 2.

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