Missouri today is among the few states that haven’t legalized sports betting. Surrounded on all sides by states that regulate and tax such betting, Missouri is essentially leaving money on the table. Legislation this session to change that deserves careful consideration — but only if it’s paired with reforms to tax the rogue video gambling machines that have proliferated all over the state without regulation or taxation in the absence of coherent statutes governing them.
There are certainly societal downsides to gambling, but the debate over whether it should be legal is effectively over. For better or worse, America has decided that gambling, like alcohol, marijuana and other once-banned vices, should be available to adults who want it.
