Voters to decide on casino expansion, sports betting, and other gambling-related ballot questions — CDC Gaming

Four prominent gaming initiatives will be on state ballots Tuesday, asking voters whether they approve of casino expansion in Virginia, Arkansas, and Missouri. In addition, Missouri voters will decide if they want to launch online and in-person sports wagering across the state.

Gambling-related questions are also on ballots in Colorado and Maryland.

In Petersburg, VA, voters will decide whether to approve the building of a casino-resort by The Cordish Companies. Supporters say the $1.4 billion revitalization project would generate $2.8 billion in economic impact over a decade and bring in $240 million in tax revenue to the city. The Petersburg City Council picked Cordish to develop and operate the casino, subject to Tuesday’s referendum, beating out four other companies in a move that generated some controversy over a selection process that did away with bidding.

Virginia’s legislature had originally designated nearby Richmond, the state capital, as a casino-resort location, and the city selected media conglomerate Urban One to operate it. But after residents voted down the proposal in 2021 and 2023 state lawmakers shifted gears by removing Richmond’s casino-host designation and assigning it to Petersburg.

Casino consultant Brendan Bussmann, managing partner of B Global, said it’s always a good bet to expect approval or expansion where gambling is already in place.

“Gaming in states where it’s already been approved at the ballot will continue to see that in the foreseeable future,” said Bussmann, who will be in New York Monday to talk to a group of investors about the gaming outlook on Tuesday.

The 400,000 square-foot facility in Petersburg would include a 200-room hotel, dining and entertainment with the first phase expected to open within a year. 

Bussmann expects the measure in Petersburg to pass, even though the process to get to Tuesday has been “difficult” and there may be more fallout about the selection.

In Missouri, Amendment 2 seeks to legalize and regulate sports wagering. If approved, the Missouri Gaming Commission could issue licenses to online platforms, sports venues, and the 13 gambling boats that are the only permitted casinos in the state, and impose a 10% tax on revenues, with proceeds allocated to education and compulsive-gambling prevention programs.

The campaign to put legalization of sports betting in front of Missouri voters was visibly and vocally supported by most of the state’s professional sports teams, including the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, after a number of legislative sessions went by without state lawmakers securing enough votes to pass a bill.

“A ton of money spent on both sides of this has pitted gaming companies in some cases against each other,” Bussmann said. “Current polling shows it’s very close and at this point, it depends on turnout. It’s too close to call. The pros have hovered around 50% to 52%. But if you get people who don’t understand, they tend to vote no.”

Also in Missouri, Amendment 5 proposes allowing the Missouri Gaming Commission to issue one additional gambling-boat license to operate on a portion of the Osage River, just downriver from the popular Lake of the Ozarks tourist area. The amendment is necessary because Missouri’s constitution currently allows gaming-boat casinos only at sites along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.

Bally’s Corporation and an area real-estate developer are behind the Lake of the Ozarks proposal, with Bally’s contributing a reported $1 million to the campaign.

“This is the Ozarks one, where advocates of a casino have been proponent over several years,” Bussmann said. “They’ve been differentiating themselves from the sports betting measure, specifically as it relates to education funding. They see the quandary of having two on the ballot. That might be one of those that dies a death of a thousand cuts, because people don’t know which one does which. When voters get confused, they tend to vote no.”

In Arkansas, Issue 2 is a statewide ballot question that aims to repeal the constitutional authorization for a casino license in Pope County in the northwestern part of the state, and require countywide voter approval for any new casino license awarded in Arkansas.

Cherokee Nation Entertainment currently has a license to build its proposed Legends Resort & Casino in Pope County, but passage of Issue 2 would rescind that authorization. Years of legal wrangling by parties for and against the proposal, including a challenge to this ballot issue that reached the state supreme court, may finally be decided by Arkansas voters on Tuesday.

“Overall, casinos have done well in Arkansas, but controversy has surrounded this license for some time,” Bussmann said. “I see it being less of an issue than not and hopefully, it brings closure to an issue that’s been fought for years. It’s a statewide vote that applies only to the northwest corridor.”

Other gambling-related questions face U.S. voters on Tuesday, in one case as a result of sports betting’s resounding success as a source of tax revenue. In Colorado, Proposition JJ seeks voter approval for the state to retain all sports-betting tax revenue, and to use tax collections in excess of $29 million to fund water conservation and protection projects.

In 2019, Colorado voters approved a $29 million cap on taxes collected from sports-betting operators on their gaming revenue, which would fund addiction treatment programs and cover the costs of regulation, with any leftover funds up to the cap supporting water projects. Tax collections above $29 million were refunded to gambling operators.

But, after four years of legal sports betting in the state, handle and revenue, and consequently tax collections, far exceed initial expectations, so the state is asking voters if the treasury can keep what it collects and use the funds for water conservation and protection.

“The original initiative passed by only 13,000 votes, but I don’t see voters saying ‘I don’t want more money going to water,’” Bussmann said.

In Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, a bayside town of about 6,500 residents an hour’s drive from Washington, DC, voters are being asked if they support the state permitting expanded gaming, such as additional electronic bingo machines, casino slots, and table gaming, to venues in the town.

“Maryland continues to look to gaming to address revenues and this won’t be the first and last ballot measure in the state to come before the voters,” Bussmann said. “Gaming has always been approved there, but local issues may drive it one way or another.”

As the town government describes the issue, “During the 2020 Town election, Town citizens were asked a similar ballot question regarding their views on gaming, and they overwhelmingly responded by opposing any gaming expansion in the Town… Over the last several years, bills were introduced in the State legislature to expand gaming in the Town of Chesapeake Beach, but failed to pass due to the Town…citizens’ documented opposition to the expansion. It will be up to the next Mayor and Town Council to decide what action to take based on the citizens 2024 ballot responses.”
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CDC Gaming contributor Debra Jobes, gaming-industry lead with Regology, which tracks legislative bills, supplied background information for this story.