Legal regulated sports betting could be coming to Midwest Missouri a full six-months ahead of schedule, iGamingFuture has learned.
“The Missouri Gaming Commission has been working diligently to complete all facets of licensing and rule making with regard to sports wagering, which are extensive.
“We anticipate the issuance of temporary licenses on or before June 30 [this year]” commission Chair Jan M. Zimmerman told iGF in an exclusive interview this week.
If the Commission sticks to its new timeline, retail and digital sports betting could go live in time for the 2025-26 NFL season, giving Kansas City Chiefs fans yet another reason to celebrate — assuming they win this year’s Super Bowl LIX (59), which will give them a record three Super Bowls in a row, a so-called “Threepeat”.
Missouri Finally Says “Yes!”
Despite being surrounded by other gambling states and being the birthplace of iconic sports teams like the Kansas City Chiefs (NFL), St. Louis Cardinals (MLB), and St. Louis Blues (NHL), Missouri has arrived late to the sports betting party.
After multiple failed attempts following the 2018 repeal of PASPA, Missouri finally became the 39th state to legalise sports wagering in late 2024.
On November 5, last year, Missouri voters narrowly approved Constitutional Amendment 2, with 50.05 percent voting “Yes”, and 49.95 percent saying “No” to legalising wagering on sports.
The Amendment gave the Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC) until December 1, 2025, to design regulation, implement infrastructure, and launch retail and digital sports betting.
However, the MGC is ahead of schedule and ready to roll out sports betting sooner than expected.
21 Skins
The Missouri market will be sizeable, with a total of 21 sports betting licenses available.
That’s one for each of the “Show-Me State’s” six professional sports teams, one for each of the state’s 13 casinos and two untethered stand-alone licences, expected to go to U.S. sports betting market leaders DraftKings and FanDuel.
Other betting brands that already have relationships with Missouri’s professional sports teams or physical casinos and are also likely to be licensed, among them Bally Bet, bet365, BetMGM, Caesars, ESPN BET, and Fanatics.
Bally’s, for example, owns Bally’s Kansas City; bet365 has an existing relationship with Century Casinos, who run two casino-resorts in the state, BetMGM has an existing relationship with the Kansas City Chiefs; Caesars has three Missouri casinos; ESPN BET is partnered with Penn Entertainment, who have three Missouri casinos, and Fanatics also has links with Penn.
She added: “Our intention is to maintain alignment with industry norms and avoid being an outlier, either on the high- or low-end.”
According to the conditions set out in Amendment 2, the MGC can set the maximum licensing costs at US$250,000 (£200,000) for retail licenses and US$500,000 (£400,000) for online licenses, both valid for five-years.
Tax rates were also included in Amendment 2’s fine print. The state chose a modest 10 percent rate on gambling revenue, well below the U.S. average of 19 percent.
The expected revenue from licensing fees and taxes is substantial, with projections of up to US$28.9 million (£23.12m) annually for the state.
Responsible Gambling
Shoring up legal protections for players, Amendment 2 also makes provisions for Responsible Gambling, ensuring a slice of the tax raised is earmarked for responsible gambling treatment, prevention and research – either 10 percent or US$5 million (£4.02m), whichever is greater.
After covering the MGC’s costs and the RG fund, the remainder of the tax revenue generated by sports betting will go to education projects in the state.
Despite tethering sports betting licenses to the state’s professional sports teams, Missouri’s new regulations take a hardline stance on college prop bets.
Zimmerman explained the law “does NOT permit wagering on the individual performance or non-performance of Missouri collegiate athletes”, a step which aligns with the National Collegiate Athletic Association and is aimed at reducing the risk of harassment and protecting young athletes.
With the regulatory examples of 38 other states ready to hand, the MGC, under Zimmerman’s leadership, has wasted no time creating the regulatory infrastructure required ahead of the official sports betting market launch, which now looks set for summer 2025.
