By: Brian Brick
I’m not generally opposed to legalized sports gambling, but I can’t buy in to the
fatally flawed Missouri Amendment 2, backed by the gambling industry.
First, Amendment 2 would require gambling businesses to pay a percentage of their
betting intake only after expenses. This is a loophole you could drive an armored car
through. After deduction of expenses for lavish infrastructure and advertising on
prime sports events and the rest, they’ll pay less tax than other greedy tycoons. The
measure should have required a tax on the gross receipts they bring in, not the net.
Second, even if Amendment 2 were to ever generate any tax paid to the state, there is
nothing to guarantee that this would result in any increase in state funds to schools.
Far more likely is that our legislature would reduce its already-inadequate
contributions to education on a dollar-for-dollar basis. So if, say, $2 million comes in
from sports betting, the legislature could (and probably would) reduce their
allocation by the same amount and spend that money on other things.
Amendment 2 is not the correct way to legalize gambling. The odds are that our
schools will see only pennies, if anything at all. This should go back to the drawing
board.