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It’s been a long — and we mean long — process to get sports betting legalized in the state of Missouri. After years of campaigning, the issue finally got put up for a vote in November 2024, and it passed by less than a 1 percent margin.
But… that vote didn’t mean clear sailing. The Show-Me State still had to set up the infrastructure to accept sports betting in Missouri. That had delays of its own, which forced the state to abandon its hopes of getting live by the summertime.
Welp, we’re happy to announce there’s finally a hard date for sports betting to launch in Missouri — December 1, 2025. The Missouri Gaming Commission recently confirmed it, and there’s no going back now. It’s happening.
What happens from now until that fateful December? Well, a lot, as we’ll get into this article. Here’s everything you need to know about Missouri’s looming go-live date:
Who Gets Sports Betting Licenses?
The next — and the biggest — domino that falls next is which operators will even be allowed in the state. Roughly speaking, there will be a dozen or so operators expected to enter the marketplace and take in bets from customers starting in December.
The application process for these operators opened up on May 16. And there are two main types of licenses available: untethered licenses issued by the MGC, and partnerships through the state’s casinos and sports teams.
Let’s begin with the untethered license. As the name suggests, these licenses don’t require any partnership with a sports team or local casino. There are only two of these licenses available, and it’s widely believed they’ll go to top mobile betting apps like DraftKings and FanDuel. They spent huge sums of money campaigning for the issue before the public vote, so they have more skin in the game than others.
The other licenses are tethered to existing casinos and pro teams in the area. There’s a lot more licenses to go around here. For one, the state has 13 riverboat casinos — all of which can partner with a sportsbook of their choosing. Then there another six pro teams in the state — Cardinals, Royals, Chiefs, Blues, Sporting KC, and STL City SC.
Obviously, there will be a lot of access points to the state’s new industry. So you should expect most of the big-name bookies to have a spot in the Show-Me State. BetMGM, Fanatics, ESPN Bet, BetRivers, and more will be in the mix. But the bigger question for these books is whether they can partner with one of the bigger brands to help their reach. For instance, the Chiefs partnership is expected to be the golden goose due to their nationwide notoriety.
So far, only the Cardinals have announced a sportsbook deal. Earlier this May, they came out and said Bet365 would be their official partner. As part of the deal, Bet365 will sponsor the team’s starting lineups, have signage at Busch Stadium, and more. No word on the dollar amount of the deal, but we’re sure it’s big.
One last thing here: licensed operators will benefit from a criminally low tax rate. Get this, Missouri is launching with a meager 10 percent tax rate on gross gaming revenue and $500,000 license fee. Both of which are well below the national averages in other states.
What Took So Damn Long?
As we said, it was a long, winding road to get here — not just the vote, but the actual set-up process. Part of this delay was purely political. For instance, the Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, a longtime critic of the industry, blocked emergency rules that would have fast-tracked the rollout. Without those emergency measures, the MGC had to wait for the standard rulemaking process to finish, which threw out the summer timeline.
Of course, there are some negative ramifications now because of the delay. The most important is that Missouri will miss most of the NFL betting season, which begins in early September. This is the peak month of betting for all states, and now Missouri will lose out on three months’ worth of top-tier revenue. Obviously, that’s not ideal.
So why December 1 and not something like November 1? Well, the December date is the constitutional deadline. You see, when the ballot passed, it had a provision that the industry would have to be live by that date. That policy is being followed, but still, the 13-month-long turnaround would make it one of the longest in the nation.
We suppose this is par for the course for Missouri. After all, they were the 39th state to finally get in on the sports betting craze when the ballot first passed. It seems they like taking a slow and steady approach — unlike neighboring states such as Kansas that’ve been legalized for years now.
But hey, what’s done is done. December 1 will mark a new chapter — one that brings legal, regulated sports betting to the state after years of false starts. Sure, they’ll miss the NFL kickoff, but given the Chiefs’ recent success, local bettors will at least get a crack at NFL playoff and Super Bowl betting. They can only hope their Kansas City team will be in those games.
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