Missouri bettors won’t have many options to place Super Bowl LX novelty prop bets with legal sportsbooks.
- Missouri regulators banned most Super Bowl novelty prop bets, including coin toss and Gatorade color wagers.
- Legal sportsbooks can still offer limited on-field props, Super Bowl MVP betting, and Super Bowl Squares.
- Prediction markets are filling the gap by offering off-field Super Bowl bets unavailable at sportsbooks.
State regulators denied a request to allow most popular non-football proposition bets last month. That decision mentioned coin toss result and color of the Gatorade dumped on the winning coach, but it extends to other “novelty” markets.
Missouri is the 39th and most recent state to start accepting legal sports bets.
The Missouri Gaming Commission’s decision also applied to some football-related wagers, including bets on the player possessing the ball on the game’s final play. Bets are permitted on the Super Bowl MVP winner.
Other permitted on-field prop bets include pass attempts, drive lengths, fumbles lost, and lead changes. Missouri’s eight legal sportsbooks also can offer “Super Bowl Squares” wagers that allow players to bet on the digits of the points scored by each team in each quarter.
The Big Game is perennially the most wagered-on individual U.S. sporting event. Next week’s contest may challenge Super Bowl LVIII, held in Las Vegas two years ago, for the most money gambled on a single game in U.S. history.
Super Bowl prop bans
All legal sports betting jurisdictions allow a wide range of on-field bets, including point spread, moneyline, and totals wagers. Their off-field prop bet authorization varies widely.
Missouri neighbor Illinois, for example, allows bets on the coin toss but prohibits bets on the national anthem length. Kansas, like Illinois, allows bets on Super Bowl MVP but prohibits most other prop wagers.
Missouri regulators last month denied a request to allow legal sportsbooks to take wagers on most major Super Bowl novelty bets, including, coin toss result, Gatorade color dumped on winning coach and player possessing the ball when time expires
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) January 27, 2026
Prop bets such as squares as well as halftime show song performance predictions, advertisements, and dozens of other off-field elements have become staples of the Super Bowl Sunday experience for tens of millions of Americans. First popularized in Las Vegas sportsbooks decades ago, these bets, which are typically only available for the Super Bowl, have not been as eagerly embraced by legal sportsbooks in the eight years since sports betting was legalized outside Nevada.
Proponents of these bans argue their off-field nature and potential for inside information make them more susceptible to corruption. Opponents of such prohibitions say that illegal, offshore sportsbooks and unlicensed bookmakers still accept these types of bets.
Multiple prediction markets do as well.
Prediction markets step in
Major prediction markets started offering sports-related event contracts in conjunction with last year’s Super Bowl. In the past 12 months they’ve generated hundreds of millions of dollars in volume, operating in states without - and with - legal sportsbooks, including Missouri.
As more than a dozen states take legal action against the markets for offering what they consider an illegal form of gambling, leading platforms, including Kalshi, continue to offer bets not just on the game’s outcome but also on off-field performances. Kalshi allows users to trade contracts on Super Bowl attendees, celebrity appearances in commercials, and Bad Bunny’s opening song for his halftime performance.
Both the prediction markets and the state regulators challenging their legality believe months, and potentially years, of court battles will ensue. In the meantime, Super Bowl viewers in Missouri - and the rest of the country - will have options to win money on prop bets outside of betting on a sportsbook.
