Legalizing any new industry comes with plenty of conflicting issues that need to be decided, and sports betting in Missouri is no different.
It’s rarer, though, that one side lobbies for something that would likely hurt them in the long run.
A. John Baker, regional VP of government relations for Caesars, did just that at a hearing for two MO sports betting bills Tuesday.
Baker asked legislators to include what he called the “Iowa model,” which means in-person registration for the first 18 months of the market:
“It’s an 18-month period where the casinos that have invested and have jobs in the community, hundreds of millions of dollars in properties they’ve developed in these communities, have the opportunity to sign customers up in-person for a period before you create the online registration process where you never have to go in anywhere, you just download the app.”
