In Missouri, sports betting is illegal to participate in, but that could soon change if Amendment 2 passes on Nov. 5.
Someone who would know a lot about sports is P.E. teacher Mickey Wendling, Wendling said he is a supporter of sports betting and is for it. He stated that people do like, and use sports betting apps anyway and that the legalization of betting on sports would be beneficial for the state of Missouri,
“I think that it’s a good idea, people do it anyways so they might as well make tax dollars from sports betting,” he said.
However, Wendling says he really doesn’t think legalized sports betting will help the economy much.
“I think that you could see some tax dollars coming in from there, but I think you would just see a lot of it get moved around,” he said.
Another person who would know more about sports betting in more of a logical way is Personal Finance teacher and football coach, John Barnabee. Unlike Wendling, Barnabee isn’t a huge fan of the idea of sports betting but he does know a lot about sports, and the effects of sports betting on Missouri. In the bill to pass sports betting it is said that schools will receive 10% sales tax on all gambling revenue collected. Meaning that over the course of five years, Missouri schools could reap $100 million in taxes. Barnabee doesen’t believes that entirely.
“What I think will end up occurring is, some of that money will end up being there, but I don’t think that all of it will end up where they claim it to be, it just depends on how they want to allocate that money, and I’m not sure how that will work,” Barnabee said.
Although people under 21 won’t be able to sports bet if this bill is passed, they still have opinions on it.
One student who is a big sports fan is sophomore Darius Williams. Williams doesn’t have strong opinions on the idea of sports betting, but one thing that Williams feels strongly about is potential corruption in the sports. Williams shares his thoughts on potential corruption.
“I mean it can definitely go sideways quickly. Refs could put money on games and rig it in their favor,” he said.
Another student, sophomore Jeshawn Townsend, also has an opinion on sports gambling. He has a very strong opinion on sports betting, but in a good way. Townsend believes that legilization of sports betting could have a way greater negative effect than positive one.
“I think it’s scary, because it can really ruin anyone’s lives, any gambling is but having it so convenient to anyone is scary,” Townsend said.
Many people have very different opinions on whether something is good and will be well received, or if it’ll be hated or if money will end up at schools so we’ll have to see after the vote.
“It’s hard to see what could actually happen, it’s just one of those things where you gotta just see what happens,” Townsend said.
