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Missouri sports betting is off to a fiery start since launching in early December. We don’t have official numbers, but on the street, it appears top betting apps are feasting off the new legalized betting market.
All this is being done with the state’s pride and joy — the Kansas City Chiefs — flaming out and missing the postseason. Imagine if they were on their way to the Super Bowl right now like we’ve become accustomed to?
Anywho, this isn’t about how much money the state of Missouri is making off sports betting. It’s about what types of bets they are allowing to be made despite some national controversy. Keep on reading, and we’ll explain the situation in the Show Me State.
Missouri Tells The NCAA To Get Lost
Unless you’ve been under a rock as of late, you’ve seen that the NCAA has been under the spotlight over an illegal gambling scheme involving dozens of student-athletes in basketball. Because of that, the NCAA is trying to ban player prop bets across states. Unfortunately, Missouri isn’t playing along.
The Missouri Gaming Commission voted unanimously in late January to reject the NCAA’s request to ban such wagers. NCAA Charlie Baker asked for it on January 15 and per Missouri’s laws, they had seven days to respond. They did so and pushed back.
But… it wasn’t a full-on rejection. More like a let’s wait and see reply. Missouri said they’re open to banning those bets, they just don’t want to make any rash decisions. As we said, they’ve only had a legal industry for a little over a month so it makes sense to want more time to decide whether to ax an entire category of bets.
“I just don’t feel that I have enough information to grant a request by the NCAA to prohibit this type of sports wagering, because I don’t know enough yet,” commission chair Jan Zimmerman said.
How about that for honesty, eh? She went on to say:
“I feel if nothing else today, our discussion really shines a light on the fact that there’s just so much that we don’t know. We are, you can’t even call sports wagering in Missouri in its infancy, I mean we’re barely born here.”
In other words, Missouri didn’t side with the NCAA — but it didn’t slam the door either. The state is choosing to watch, wait, and gather numbers before making a move that could reshape its brand-new betting market.
One Side Wants Prop Bets To Stay
The temporary decision was music to the ears of the sportsbook operators in Missouri — Caesars, Circa, bet365, BetMGM, DraftKings, Fanatics and FanDuel. Surprise, surprise, all of them want the bets to stay because they’re profitable (when they’re not being rigged) and fun for their customer base.
Caesars didn’t mince words. They say college props are actually LESS prone to manipulation. They argue they put strict money limits on most of these bets to dampen the risk. We get that, but it doesn’t mean all operators do the same. All it takes is one bookie to allow big bets on player props for it become worthwhile to bad actors.
Besides them, the Sports Betting Alliance also opposed the ban. This is a lobbying group that’s effectively the mouthpiece for the top betting apps. They said the NCAA failed to meet Missouri’s criteria for regulatory revisions and “should not trigger a radical change” to the state’s new industry.
Are Other States Banning NCAA Player Props?
Short answer: some are — most aren’t. Across the country, states have landed all over the map when it comes to college player prop bets. Roughly a dozen states allow individual player props without restrictions. About the same number ban them outright.
To be fair, the NCAA has been trying to push states toward tougher rules since 2023. That campaign certainly picked up real steam after indictments against dozens of former college basketball players were unsealed earlier this month, with prosecutors alleging they manipulated performances for betting purposes.
The question is, how many new states will be buoyed by Baker and try to end player prop bets in NCAA games? Missouri’s Chair Zimmerman made it clear she wants to see how the rest of the country handles this before Missouri jumps. Executive Director Michael Leara added another data point: Nevada regulators told him they aren’t planning any changes either. The state still has a lot of cache in this industry, so it’s not a nothingburger when they say it.
That context helps explain why Missouri punted instead of siding immediately with the NCAA. From the state’s perspective, the industry is not even two months old. Revenue data is still rolling in. Player-prop limits are already being managed by sportsbooks. And nationally, there’s no consensus yet on whether bans actually solve the integrity problem or just push bettors toward offshore sites.
Missouri might be new to this industry, but they’re moving like they’ve been around for years already. Not ready to cave to public pressure, and instead are waiting on the right data to guide them. As they probably should.
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