Surely, you’ve seen the TV commercials.
Baseball Hall of Fame member and former St. Louis Cardinal great Ozzie Smith is figuratively turning backflips in support of Amendment 2. Other commercials feature teachers, school administrators and parents..
Amendment 2 would legalize sports betting in the state, and Missouri will join 38 other states and the District of Columbia. Seven of Missouri’s eight neighboring states, including Kansas and Illinois, have legalized sports gambling. Oklahoma is the holdout.
Those supporting the amendment say that more than $100 million will be dedicated to educational programs over the first five years. An opponent of the measure, Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling, claim backers of the amendment are using “a deceptive measure they claim will fund education.”
So, will legalized sports betting have a major impact on Missouri education?
Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling have distributed what they call a “fact sheet” that reads:
- There is no guarantee a single penny would be provided to the state to fund schools or education.
- “Zero gaming taxes for sports wagering” means zero dollars for schools.
- Out-of-state online gambling corporations are spending millions to deceive parents, teachers, educators and voters.
When looking at the anti-sports gambling group’s facts, one must also consider who’s funding them.
According to the Missouri Independent, the committee has received $14.2 million from Caesars Entertainment, one of six casino operators aggressively opposing the measure. Casino companies seem to dislike the fact that online gambling could be licensed without having to create a business relationship with a Missouri casino.
Former St. Louis Comptroller, Virvus Jones fits in the nonbeliever category.
“They’re playing these bait-and-switch games. That’s what they do,” Jones told the St. Louis American. “I read it (the amendment), and I don’t think it’s going to do what they say it will, in terms of money going to schools. They take that money, but they don’t increase the (education) budget. They just replace current appropriations.”
As far as education is concerned, the amendment would “allow license fees prescribed by the commission and a 10% wagering tax on revenues received to be appropriated for education after expenses incurred by the Commission and required funding of the Compulsive Gambling prevention fund.” The money from legalized sports betting would be divided across the entire Missouri educational system.
KOMU 8, a Kansas City NBC affiliate, challenged the amendment’s language, claiming that it doesn’t detail the collection of the wagering tax: “The ballot measure says that a 10% wagering tax will be imposed on any revenue. But it doesn’t outline who may collect that tax, or the methods for doing so.”
The 2022 amendment to legalize recreational marijuana laid out a clear path for collecting tax revenue, stating that it must be paid to the Missouri Department of Revenue, which would be allowed to retain a small percentage for its own costs. Any remaining money should be deposited by the department into a specific fund for veterans’ health care.
In an interview with KOMU, Amy Blouin, president and CEO of the left-leaning Missouri Budget Project said: “There have been questions raised because the ballot measure did not include the mechanism for funding that it needs to.”
Using comments from state Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick’s fiscal analysis on the amendment, Brooke Foster, a spokesperson for Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment, spoke to the measure’s vague funding mechanism.
“The state auditor said that zero dollars is a possibility,” Foster said. “So, from zero dollars to about $28.9 million — but the $28.9 million is the absolute high end — and by the time the gaming corporations take all of their deductions, it’s a very good chance that it will be much closer to that zero figure.”
Two of the biggest backers of the online measure are FanDuel and DraftKings, which, according to the Independent, have each contributed $15.8 million. “Winning for Missouri Education,” the committee backing Amendment 2, strongly argues that the state’s constitution directs all revenue from gambling taxes to education programs.
Jones is frustrated that education must depend on gambling-period.
“Either education is important or it’s not,” Jones lamented. “To fund something as important as education off gambling, to me, is just bad policy. It distracts from the real issue, which is that Missouri doesn’t spend enough money to educate its children.
According to the Education Data Initiative, a team of researchers who collect data and statistics about the U.S. education system, Missouri ranks 34th in K-12 school spending and 36th in funding. Missouri schools spend less than the national average on education relative to taxpayer income.
Jason Roberts, president of the Kansas City Federation of Teachers and School Related Personnel, takes a stance like Jones.
“We have to stop using teachers as political pawns,” Roberts told the Kansas City Star. “They’re using teachers as a false promise, making false promises to the voters that we’re going to make teachers’ lives better only to expand gambling in the state of Missouri.”
Gambling may or may not be good for education and the economy, but evidence proves it’s not always best for gamblers.
According to the Missouri Department of Mental Health’s Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse (ADA), the impact of a gambling addiction far exceeds the obvious financial losses incurred by repeated gambling.
The ADA cites studies that indicate 25-50% of spouses of problem gamblers have been abused; children of compulsive gamblers are often prone to suffer abuse, as well as neglect and are at a higher risk of developing health threatening behaviors, including alcohol and drug abuse, problem gambling, eating disorders, depression, and suicide.
Though the amount of money going to education is debatable, there’s no doubt it will benefit educational programs in some way. And many people seem to support that idea.
According to a St. Louis University/YouGov poll released on August 29, 204, 50% of voters surveyed said they supported sports wagering after reading the Amendment 2 ballot language while 30% were opposed.
Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.
With his cinematic debut, visual-artist-turned-filmmaker Titus Kaphar asks an emotionally charged and highly debated question that permeates within segments of the Black community.
“Can generational curses be broken in spite of unhealed trauma?” Through “Exhibiting Forgiveness,” Kaphar answers with an emphatic yes, but pivots to the price that must be paid.
The critically acclaimed film Starring André Holland, Andra Day, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and John Earl Jelks premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2024. It opened in theaters nationwide on Friday, October 18. “Exhibiting Forgiveness” gives agency to the Black boys who fight tooth and nail to protect their sons from the parenting sins they suffered at the hands of their fathers. Whether it was physical or emotional absence, abuse or dysfunctional relationships dynamics within the family unit. Although Kaphar never says so, the film feels autobiographical. If it appears nowhere other than in the similarity of the artwork of the main character Tarrell, there is at least one parallel.
Tarrell is a painter who has emerged within the mainstream arts community for his vivid imagery in the depiction of Black males. He is far from a starving artist. Through his work he has created a comfortable and loving environment for his wife and young son. Their home beams with love – and creativity thanks to his wife Aisha’s singing career. But he is suffocating under the weight of anxiety and pressure from internalizing his childhood wounds. They are tender to the touch – and become exposed when his mother Joyce stages an impromptu reunion with his long estranged father LaRon without Tarrell’s permission.
Tarrell relents, but the reconnection is anything but a joyous one. He forces Laron to confront the demons that destroyed their family. Beaten down by the world, Laron drilled into his son that his value as a human being is tethered to his ability as a provider. Laron shares details of the trauma that was passed down from his father as if it were an heirloom. Tarrell continues to suffer because of his decision to bury it within. Tarrell’s experience with LaRon haunts him, but also inspires him creatively. Meanwhile the pieces of what LaRon left of the family suddenly scatter.
“Exhibiting Forgiveness” is a slow burn wrapped in an emotional rollercoaster. The film starts heavily and consistently remains that way. Instead of building to a climax, there is a steady simmer that may feel under pace for the palates of movie goers who have settled into comic book franchises and fervently unhinged dramas. Kaphar – who also wrote the film – adheres to a somewhat safe formula with respect to the situations that ease the story along.
But it is more satisfying than the run of the mill predictable broken family drama thanks to powerful acting coupled with stunning visual and audio aesthetics.
Even from the interesting way the opening credits unfold, audiences are aware that the film is being handled with an artist’s eye. Cinematographer Lachlan Milne makes the film feel as if it is on canvas with the depth and vivid imagery of a contemporary painting. The haunting vocals of co-star Andra Day as her character Aisha, a singer/songwriter/musician, tinkers with what will become the song “Bricks” gives insight on the inspiration and collaboration of romantic partners who are also creatives.
The chemistry between André Holland’s Tarrell and Day as his wife Aisha is art in its own right, but the performances of Holland and Ellis-Taylor deliver poignant authenticity. Ellis-Taylor elevates the performance of Jelks as Laron with every scene they share. But the moments when Ellis-Taylor and Holland connect – and conflict – are masterful.
Both are underutilized within the industry for artists of their caliber. The hope is that Ellis-Taylor won’t be ignored during awards season thanks to her performance in “Exhibiting Forgiveness” and the soon-to-be-released “Nickel Boys” by RaMell Ross. And that Holland’s ability to bear the weight of the film will finally garner the leading man status his talent warrants.
Exhibiting Forgiveness is open in theaters nationwide. The film is rated R with a running time of 117 minutes.
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