Having the final say

On a day of immense drama, Americans voted Donald Trump in as the next President of the United States. While most of the attention was on the choice for president other lawmakers, a few gambling initiatives were also on the ballot in a handful of states.

Missourians voted on whether or not they want legal sports betting, while people in Arkansas, Virginia, and Colorado also expressed their views on gambling-related initiatives.

Missouri

Amendment 2 in Missouri narrowly passed by fewer than 7,500 votes out of nearly 3 million votes cast, so online and retail sportsbooks will be up and running by December 2025.

A historic amount of money went into the campaign, with major sportsbook operators FanDuel and DraftKings donating nearly $41m in support, while Caesars Entertainment, which runs three land-based casinos in the state, invested $14m to put people off the idea.

Another gambling-related initiative on the ballot in Missouri was defeated, with 52% of people voting against the development of another casino in the Lake of the Ozarks area.

Virginia

Voters in Petersburg, Virginia overwhelmingly supported a new $1.4bn casino development beside Interstate 95, with the initiative receiving more than 80% support at the ballot box.

will be the state’s fifth commercial casino

The Live! Casino & Hotel will be the state’s fifth commercial casino and is expected to generate an estimated $240m in tax revenue over its first decade.

Arkansas

In an interesting turn of events, a new casino won’t be coming to Pope County in Arkansas anytime soon despite locals voting in favor of retaining the license the Arkansas Racing Commission awarded to Cherokee Entertainment in June.

74 other counties in the state favored stripping the license

People in 74 other counties in the state favored stripping the license as they felt the matter was forced upon locals in Pope County, who had previously voted against the arrival of a casino in 2018.

Talking about the matter, Pope County Judge Ben Cross said: “In what is undoubtedly the epitome of irony, Pope County voters definitively made their voices heard once and for all on the casino issue” despite other counties “once again” deciding an issue on its behalf.

Colorado

Proposition JJ in Colorado got more than 75% support from voters, which means the state can direct annual gambling tax revenue exceeding $29m to improve water infrastructure.

The previous system saw any money over the $29m total going back to gambling operators and not used for public programs.