It's only about 2½ weeks until voters will determine if Missouri will join all but one of its eight bordering states (Oklahoma) in legalizing sports betting.
While the proposal certainly has its flaws, the privately generated ballot initiative does something that politicians have failed to do through numerous legislative sessions in Jefferson City — bring the issue to a vote.
A small faction of politicos have tied the legalization of sports wagering to their insistence that the unregulated slot machines that are abundant in gas stations and bars across the state also be approved, devices that state officials at varying levels have closed their eyes to for years despite the Missouri Gaming Commission saying they are gambling devices and the highway patrol considering them illegal.