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Will Sports Betting Be Missouri's Answer To Shrinking Revenue?

KCUR | By Brian Ellison
Published February 7, 2019 at 12:00 PM CST
A bill in the Missouri Legislature would make it legal to place sports bets on professional sports, like Major League Baseball.
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KCUR 89.3
A bill in the Missouri Legislature would make it legal to place sports bets on professional sports, like Major League Baseball.

Missouri's budget director announced this week that revenues are down 7 percent compared to last year. While that may change as more people file their taxes, lawmakers are looking for new ways to bring in money while faced with tax cuts they instituted on top of growing expenses for health care, infrastructure and education. 

Sen. Denny Hoskins, a Republican from Warrensburg, thinks one option is sports betting. Missouri is one of more than two dozen states considering legalizing sports betting, in addition to the 10 states where some form of it is already legal.

Statehouse Blend Missouri host Brian Ellison spoke with Hoskins about the issue, as well as transparency in government, cracking down on fake service animals, and losing his running buddy.

Subscribe to Statehouse Blend Missouri: iTunes, Google Play, and on the NPRone app.

Copyright 2020 KCUR 89.3. To see more, visit KCUR 89.3.

Brian Ellison
Brian Ellison is substitute host of Central Standard and Up To Date and has served in a variety of roles at KCUR since 2008. He has been acting producer and associate producer of Up To Date and was acting producer of The Walt Bodine Show. A member of the Religion Newswriters Association, he also contributes occasionally to KCUR news coverage. Even before joining the KCUR staff, he was a producer and frequent guest on Up To Date's "Religion Roundtable," as well as a committed listener and volunteer.