Sports betting is still not legal in Missouri as the state’s lone Power Four football program kicks off its regular season Thursday. It will remain illegal when the season ends.
- Missouri’s first legal online and retail sportsbooks won’t go live until Dec. 1, meaning no legal bets for the entire college football regular season.
- DraftKings and FanDuel, the top two operators by market share, plan to launch Dec. 1, along with several other national sportsbooks.
- The delay will cost Missouri millions in lost tax revenue and keeps bettors from wagering on the majority of 2025 football games.
Missouri’s first legal online and retail sportsbooks won’t go live until Dec. 1. This means bettors in the Show Me State will not have a chance to place a legal bet for the entirety of the college football regular season.
That includes the University of Missouri's opener against Central Arkansas on Thursday through the Nov. 29 season finale at Arkansas.
Missouri bettors will be able to bet on the College Football Playoff as well as the tail end of the NFL regular season. But Missouri will miss the vast majority of potential bets placed on football, far and away the most wagered-upon sport in America.
Come 2026, Missouri bettors will be able to wager on point spreads, totals, and moneylines for Mizzou and other in-state programs, unlike a ban in neighboring Illinois that prevents bets on the state’s colleges, offering a small consolation prize.
Missouri sports betting background
Missouri voters narrowly approved legal sportsbooks on the November 2024 ballot. As with the other 39 states that have approved legal sportsbooks, regulators had to complete additional requirements, including licensing restrictions, financial reporting, and a host of other key mandates.
The Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC), tasked with implementing these regulations and licensing the future sportsbooks, announced it would complete that work so sportsbooks could launch by June 30. The eight-month turnaround from voter approval to first bet would have put it in line with many of the other legal sports betting states.
Instead, the launch was pushed back to the latest possible date.
Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, elected statewide on the same 2024 ballot that approved sports betting, denied the MGC’s request for “emergency” regulations that would have expedited the regulatory process. Hoskins determined the rules didn’t meet the expedition threshold, which pushed the launch date back to Dec. 1 - the last possible date permitted under the constitutional amendment passed by voters on the ballot.
This means Missouri will go nearly 13 months from legal sports betting approval to first bet, one of the longest turnarounds in the country. It will also cost the state millions of dollars in lost tax revenue.
Sportsbooks still excited
The delayed start has not diminished sportsbooks’ interest in Missouri.
Nine sportsbooks announced Missouri sports betting launch plans, with more potentially set to follow. This includes many of the major national brands that make up the vast majority of the nation’s legal betting handle.
DraftKings, the No. 2 operator by market share, already earned a mobile sports betting license. FanDuel, the No. 1 operator by share, partnered with MLS club St. Louis CITY SC for Missouri market access and, like DraftKings, expects to go live Dec. 1.
Combined, the two books spent more than $40 million supporting the sports betting approval ballot measure.
Circa Sportsbook, the Nevada-based operator known for welcoming “sharp” bettors, also earned a sports betting license.
Other national brands, including BetMGM, Caesars, Fanatics, bet365, and ESPN BET, also announced launch plans. Underdog, better known for its fantasy pick’em offerings, has also applied for a mobile sports wagering license.
Other leading books that could apply for licensure include Hard Rock, BetRivers, and Bally Bet.
The application deadline to go live before the Dec. 1 launch date is Sept. 12.
State law permits retail books at Missouri casinos as well as within or adjacent to the stadiums of six major professional sports teams. Most of Missouri’s 13 casinos announced retail book opening plans, but it is unclear if or when any will open.
