Four important gambling questions appeared on voters’ ballots in yesterday’s US general election. Online casino gaming wasn’t among them, but retail casinos and sports betting were. Voters were split on the issues, with two measures passing to advance gambling expansion, one reversing an earlier decision, and one failing.
When it comes to elections, what constitutes a good result is mostly subjective. For general elections in 2024 across the United States, whether the results were good for the gaming industry fluctuated greatly depending on your particular stake in the game and location.
Voters in Arkansas, Missouri, and Petersburg, Virginia weighed in on ballot measures directly connected to the potential expansion of gaming. The results were mixed regardless of your stance on the larger issue.
Arkansas voters approved Issue 2, scaling back the state’s casino landscape while voters in Missouri rejected a measure that would have increased their casino count. Petersburg citizens said yes to a casino, though, and Missourians also gave a nod to legal sports wagering.
Petersburg voters welcome Live! casino project
The story over where Virginia will see a fifth brick-and-mortar casino open has found a resolution, at least barring any court challenges or legislative changes. Voters in Petersburg supported a referendum on a proposal from The Cordish Companies to develop and operate a casino in their city.
Final approvals of plans to put the casino on the city’s southeast side should move forward soon. Petersburg’s voters approved the referendum by an 81% – 19% margin according to Kate Andrews of Virginia Business.
This vote follows two failed referendums in the state capital of Richmond. It also likely is a disappointment for proponents of an alternative plan to develop a casino in Fairfax County.
Legislation toward that end surfaced in the past session of the state Assembly but did not gain much traction due to the pending nature of the Petersburg vote. There might not be much of an appetite in the state for a sixth casino.
Regardless of the future of gaming in Fairfax County, Petersburg voters weren’t the only ones voicing their opinions on a casino in their neighborhoods on Tuesday.
Arkansas voters express partial regret over 2018
In 2018, voters in Arkansas authorized four land-based casinos. Six years later, they scaled back that number by one.
Issue 2, which has multiple ramifications for casino gaming in Arkansas, passed on Tuesday by a 56% – 44% margin according to the Associated Press. The measure has the immediate effect of striking Pope County from the list of locations for a casino.
The measure also requires any future casino authorization votes to include local referendums within the county/counties that would act as host(s). That will raise the bar for any future attempts to develop a casino anywhere in Arkansas.
Additionally, this vote should finally end years of litigation over the license to operate a casino in Pope County, as that premise is no longer viable. For the foreseeable future, there will be three casinos in the state.
Voters in a neighboring state also had their say on gaming, but in more of an online capacity.
Missouri voters give online gambling companies something to look forward to
When it comes to the expansion of regulated online gambling in the US in 2025, the map is pretty limited. Voters in Missouri suggested that there won’t be a complete blackout, though.
On Tuesday, Missouri voters approved a referendum that establishes the basics of a regulated system for sports wagering in their state. The question passed by an extremely narrow margin of a mere 7,500 votes according to Tod Palmer of KSHB.
While enabling legislation will still have to be worked out in Jefferson City, the measure acts as somewhat of a skeletal structure. Each physical casino and most of the professional sports teams in Missouri will receive licenses to offer sports betting.
The Missouri Gaming Commission can also award up to two licenses apart from those entities. The framework allows for both in-person and online betting.
The speed with which sportsbooks will actually start taking bets in Missouri depends on many factors. Those include how quickly enabling legislature finalizes necessary regulations and how fast regulators process license applications.
At this time, Missouri looks to be the sole best hope for a new US online gambling market in 2025. A 2025 launch is not guaranteed, but probable at this juncture, although the same can’t be said for a new casino in Missouri.
Missouri voters shut the door on casino expansion
A statewide referendum that would have approved a new casino near the Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri failed by a 52%-48% margin on Tuesday according to St. Louis Public Radio. The developers and operators of the casino would have been the Osage Nation.
The Osage Nation may still try to negotiate a compact with the US federal government and the state of Missouri to open a casino on the land they own in the area. For that to occur, though, the US Dept. of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs would have to take the land into trust for the Osage Nation, so the process should take time even if ultimately successful.
The gaming industry across the US will adapt now to the hand voters have dealt it. That hand looks better in some parts of the country than others.
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