BY: RUDI KELLER
Missouri Independent
The campaign opposing a sports betting constitutional amendment on Missouri’s November ballot canceled more than $1 million in television ads Thursday just as the group pushing the proposal launched new ads featuring former St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Ozzie Smith.
The Independent’s tracking of broadcaster reports to the Federal Communications Commission show that Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment aired or reserved almost $4 million worth of television ads opposing Amendment 2.
Thursday’s cancellation took down $1.2 million of those ads, some of which had been purchased weeks ago.
The ads are being pulled so the campaign can shift to more direct contacts, saidBrooke Foster, a spokeswoman for Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment.
“While the out-of-state online gambling corporations continue to throw millions of dollars at misleading TV ads, we have decided to focus our efforts on grassroots outreach and community conversations during the two and a weeks that remain before Election Day,” she said in an email.
Since it was created Sept. 10, the committee has received $14.2 million from Caesars Entertainment-owned casinos in Missouri. In the $2.7 million of television ads that did run, the campaign has played on skepticism about how taxes from gambling are used, casting doubt on whether a promise of more than $100 million for education programs over the first five years will be fulfilled.
Caesars is the only one of the six casino operators licensed in Missouri that is actively opposing the ballot measure. One aspect the company dislikes is that online gambling platforms could be licensed without having to create a business relationship with a Missouri casino.
Winning for Missouri Education, the committee backing Amendment 2, is the best-funded ballot measure campaign in state history. The two biggest online bookmakers, FanDuel and DraftKings, have each contributed $15.8 million, and the television and radio ad campaign has cost almost $10 million so far. The ads in favor of sports wagering emphasize that the Missouri Constitution directs all revenue from gambling taxes to education programs.
Jack Cardetti, a spokesman for Winning for Missouri Education, declined to say why he believed the ads were pulled.
“That’s something you’d have to ask them about,” Cardetti said. “We’re focused on the campaign and making sure our message is getting out. We feel really good about where we are right now.”
In an August St. Louis University/YouGov poll, 50% of voters surveyed said they supported sports wagering after reading the Amendment 2 ballot language while 30% were opposed. The television ads opposing Amendment 2, which began running in the first week of September, had narrowed that lead, Foster said last week.
“It’s definitely tightened,” she said. “It’s margin of error type close, so we’re really pleased to see that.”
Winning for Missouri Education this week has increased the size of some of its television purchases and has begun emphasizing support for the measure from professional sports teams — which will be able to set up retail sports wagering locations and provide a branded online platform.
“The Amendment 2 campaign will continue to aggressively get our message out,” Cardetti said, “and ensure that Missourians know the benefits of legalizing sports betting, right up until the last hour.”