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Sports betting in Missouri is delayed. Now that’s not new information if you’ve been reading this site. But now that the dust has settled, it’s become even more comical that there was a delay in the first place.
That’s because nothing happened that was supposed to happen. Huh? Yes, we know it sounds confusing, but we promise to derail everything that happened in this article. Not only that, but put a timeline on when legal sports betting can finally launch in Missouri.
Why Missouri Delayed Sports Betting
Let’s begin here: why did Missouri delay its betting rollout in the first place? Originally, the hope was betting would launch by June 2025.
The delay was, more or less, caused by one person: Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins. He’s long been a thorn in the side of policymakers wanting to legalize, and Hoskins struck again even after legalization passed narrowly. Hoskins rejected the emergency rules proposed by the Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC).
What are emergency rules? The MGC leans on this to speed up the licensing and operational process. That was their way of getting this thing live by June — well ahead of the busy NFL betting season. But here’s the problem: Missouri law only allows emergency rulemaking when there’s an “immediate danger” to public health, safety, or welfare, or when there’s a pressing government interest that justifies skipping the normal process. Hoskins didn’t think sports betting met those criteria so he shut the whole thing down.
Without emergency rules, Missouri has been forced to go through the normal rulemaking process. That includes a 30-day public comment period, regulatory reviews, and other bureaucratic steps that will slow things down. Welp, that 30-day comment period came and went, and you’re going to laugh at what actually happened during it.
Public Comment Was A Nothingburger
So about that 30-day public comment period. It came and went without a peep in the world. Yes, we’re dead serious — it was a complete nothingburger.
The public comment period opened in the middle of March, shortly after the delay. It was open until April 16. Per the state gaming commission, not a single soul from the public participated. Not one. Hoskins wanted to give Missourians a chance to “express their concerns and opinions” about sports gambling, and welp, no one cares enough to do it.
Not going to lie, even that surprised us. Surprised us because Missouri sports betting barely passed during the November ballot. The percentage of the vote was quite literally almost 50-50. But legalization passed with a few thousand extra votes (under 10,000) out of 3 million cast. Yet, none of those non-voters had any concerns to air our, or perhaps they just didn’t know about it.
Elizabeth Hoffman, commission public relations coordinator, confirmed the no-comment report. Though she did mention that gaming industry folks submitted comments. Hoffman mentioned April 17 was technically speaking the last day the public could speak on the matter during a public hearing in Jefferson City. Sure enough, no one showed up for that either.
Is Hoskins Sabotaging The Industry?
“The public deserves to have its voice heard, and it’s crucial that we ensure that this rulemaking process is transparent, thorough, and open.”
That’s an exact quote from Hoskins when he held up the emergency rules process. But now that the dust has settled, you have to wonder whether it was just politician talk, and maybe Hoskins was trying to sabotage the industry before it ever got up and running. The latter sounds like a conspiracy, but it’s actually not that far-fetched once you take into account Hoskins’ history of anti-betting sentiment.
Back when he was still a state senator, Hoskins was the reason Missouri couldn’t get betting across the line. He kept holding up legislation, insisting that any sports betting bill had to include video lottery terminals (VLTs) too. That hard stance led to year after year of failed bills, endless political gridlock, and Missouri falling further behind as other states legalized (even neighboring Kansas had sports betting), launched, and welcomed top-tier betting apps.
That gridlock is exactly why Missouri’s pro sports teams — like the St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Chiefs — said screw it and took matters into their own hands. They formed a coalition, gathered enough signatures, and pushed the issue straight onto the ballot.
But even after all that… Hoskins is still trying to stick it to the industry. Thankfully, this is likely going to come to an end. He’s exhausted most possible measures, and per the ballot initiative, this thing needs to get live by December 1, 2025.
Once it goes live, it’ll be available both in person and via mobile apps. There are existing casinos that’ll score sports wagering, but it’s still not decided which apps will have access to the Show Me State. Three licenses are up for grabs, and two are widely expected to go to DraftKings and FanDuel — both of whom spent a small fortune on marketing campaigns to legalize it.
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