ST. LOUIS – For Missouri’s legal sports betting launch Monday, I appeared in-studio on a local news station, I shook hands with an NHL Hall of Famer and had a beer with Downtown Las Vegas’ most notable casino owner. Here’s a timeline of my day:
12:00 a.m. – Missouri’s first eight legal mobile sportsbooks start accepting bets, and I post on Twitter (which some people call “X”) that the launch is live. I instinctually begin refreshing to bask in the ensuing “likes.”
12:01 – Groggy from my alarm (set five minutes earlier) I fumble around my eight downloaded sportsbook apps trying to place what I hope will be the state’s first legal bet.
12:03 – I manage to put down $16 on the St. Louis Blues moneyline on that night’s game against the Anaheim Ducks. I realize there was no chance it was the first legal bet.
12:05 - A fellow Twitter user posts that he has not only placed a bet but what could have very well been the state’s first ever winning bet: A $5 wager at -3,000 odds placed at midnight that Deep Munim (which I figured was the name of a craft brewery IPA) would win the 8th game of the first set in his match against Aniketh Venkataraman in what I believe is some sort of tennis competition. Twitter user “TheJerk” (@dynastyjerk) won $0.17.
12:11 – I try to go back to sleep before what I know will be a frantic rest of the day. My emotional state can best be described as “child in bed on Christmas Eve.”
6:02 – My alarm goes off. Like most mornings, I immediately check Twitter. SEVERAL more likes on my post.
6:05 – To celebrate the big day (or, presumably, due to lack of better options), I’ve been invited to a local news station to discuss Missouri’s sports betting launch. I begin getting myself “camera ready,” an elevated state of grooming my co-workers can attest I’ve rarely undertaken.
6:30 – I turn on the news to see a reporter outside the Horseshoe Casino in Downtown St. Louis braving 23-degree temperatures and discussing the mobile sports betting launch that morning and the in-person Caesars Sportsbook opening later in the day. This launch, I say to myself, is bigger here than I realize.
6:55 – Coffee No. 1.
6:58 – I turn on the heat in my rental car and begin a half-hour drive from my downtown hotel to the suburban St. Louis studio. Seeing the residual snow from the past weekend’s snowstorm (and hearing radio forecasts for more that afternoon) I give a silent thanks to the rental car clerk who upsold me a car with four-wheel drive.
6:59 – Sportsbook radio ad No. 1.
7:00 – To my disappointment, the hosts of a local sports talk radio station decide they’ll lead the hour with discussions around the college football coaching changes instead of the state’s sports betting launch. One of their first segments is sponsored by a sportsbook.
7:16 - Sportsbook radio ad No. 2.
7:30 – I arrive at the station and park. The Twitter likes keep pouring in.
7:40 – As I wait in the “green room” for my “big” TV appearance, I scroll through as many of the eight legal sportsbooks as possible, trying to maximize promos. If I do this right – I think to myself with a smile – this trip will pay for itself off of bonus bets alone.
8:02 – As a promotion, DraftKings offers +100 odds on the Blues to record a shot in that night’s game, something the team has achieved in all of the roughly 5,000 regular and post-season games they have played in their more than 50 years of existence. FanDuel counters with a +100 boost that the night’s New York Giants-New England Patriots game will have at least one point scored, something that has occurred in every NFL game played in the last 80 years.
8:03 – I begin to worry I’ll lose both bets.
8:20 – My TV appearance begins.
8:23 – My TV appearance ends. I could have spent another 10 minutes to three hours talking Missouri sports betting, but I accept that the good people of the Greater St. Louis metro region may appreciate other topics on their morning news cast. After all, more snow is in the forecast.
8:31 – Back in the car. Sportsbook radio ad No. 3.
8:39 – Sportsbook radio ad No. 4.
8:55 – I arrive at the Horseshoe sportsbook just before former NFL quarterback Trent Green is set to place the book’s first in-person bet. Without hyperbole, I have covered presidential candidate campaign stops with fewer members of the press.
Former St Louis Rams and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Trent Green before placing the ceremonial first bet at Horseshoe St Louis pic.twitter.com/dwZZ7PPMoS
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) December 1, 2025
9:01 – With cameras flashing, Green announces he’s placed a futures bet on the Indiana Hoosiers, his former college team, to win the NCAA football national championship. I immediately think I should do the same.
9:10 – In a huddle with what appears to be the entire Missouri press corps, Green said he would tell today’s athletes to familiarize themselves with the rules around gambling and that he personally had experienced a bit of what modern players deal with around gamblers due to fantasy football: “I didn't understand fantasy football at the time, and I didn’t get why these people are throwing stuff at me, but then they get a win, they’re saying ‘I appreciate the win last week.’”
9:21 – A Caesars exec confirms that the first bet placed that night was a five-leg hockey parlay, officially dashing my slim hopes that I had been the lucky first bet placer.
9:24 – I walk back to the hotel on what is now an overcast, 29-degree St. Louis morning. I pass several street-level electronic billboards for mobile sportsbooks.
9:37 – I begin the long process of sitting down, checking Twitter, and dethawing.
9:38 – Coffee No. 2.
10:01 – Coffee No. 3.
10:31 – Coffee No. 4.
11:28 – Snow begins to fall.
Afternoon
12:15 p.m. – DraftKings, which doesn’t operate an in-person sportsbook in the state, has a ceremonial first bet event at an events venue downtown. Based on what I had seen that day, I imagined DraftKings had received thousands (if not tens of thousands) of bets in Missouri over the prior 12 hours.
12:16 – As more snow-covered bodies walk into the venue, the media contingent for this event eclipses the Horseshoe sportsbook opening.
12:20 – Pro Football Hall of Famer Isaac Bruce and Hockey Hall of Famer Brett Hull headline a panel to commemorate the first bet (NFL Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez couldn’t make it due to the weather). Following a discussion on responsible gaming, Bruce says his first bet was on the Patriots, seven-point home favorites, to win that night’s game. “It’s a responsible bet,” Bruce said.
12:21 – Hull counters with a three-leg parlay: Sidney Crosby to record two or more points, Tage Thompson to score a goal, and Nico Hischier to score a goal.
NHL Hall-of-Famer Brett Hull showed off his three-leg parlay at today's Missouri sports betting launch event pic.twitter.com/IVELRgGZKs
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) December 1, 2025
12:29 – I ask Hull for his thoughts about gambling and the impact on professional sports. “I think it's hard to fix a hockey game. And if the guys on your team thought that would ever be happening, you'd be on injured reserve real quick, and you can see it, because you have to work together so well.”
1:02 – At least an inch of snow has fallen on the rental car since I left. I contemplate leaving it in the parking lot and walking back to the hotel.
1:17 – The car (and I) both survive the roughly two-mile voyage to the hotel.
1:19 – Coffee No. 5.
2:04 – With snow continuing to fall, I cancel plans to attend the Fanatics Sportsbook opening at the Ameristar Casino in neighboring St. Charles. I wonder if the increasingly rapid snowfall will make me cancel my flight (a flight that is days from now in a different city) back home.
2:30 – Dethaw, coffee, etc.
3:30 – I am asked to speak about sports betting on a local talk radio show. One of the hosts asks how sportsbook deposits work. I realize there are, in fact, Missouri residents not placing sports bets that day.
4:05 – I bundle up with every glove, jacket, scarf, sock, and pair of underwear I can find for a roughly mile walk outside in the continuing snow. I’m unsure if I’ll be able to make the journey back.
4:43 – After far too many near slips and plodding steps through the roughly 1.27 inches of snow covering the sidewalks, I make it to a bar near the Enterprise Center, home of the Blues. I meet with Derek Stevens, owner of Circa Sportsbook, and gladly take his offer for a beer. My body felt so cold, I would have taken him up for an offer of motor oil.
5:05 – We talk about the day’s sports betting launch: “This is being treated like a state holiday,” Stevens says.
5:35 - I mention I heard four different sportsbook radio ads that day. I learn that, had I been in the car a little longer, I would have heard a fifth: Circa’s.
Evening
6:02 – Stevens, myself, and several other Circa employees head to the arena before splitting up at the gate. I don’t say it, but I have a good feeling they have much better seats than I do.
6:27 – I take my seat before game time to an empty row. I realize the snow, the opponent, and the day of the week could make this a sparse crowd.
7:09 – The Blues record a shot on goal. I have my first winning bet.
7:15 – I had hoped to talk with Blues fans about sports betting, but the small crowd leaves fewer opportunities than I expected. Many in attendance are families with children, presumably with the day off school tomorrow. I decide it's best not to talk to them about sports gambling.
7:47 – I check my dying cell phone to see the Patriots have scored and I’m now 2-for-2 on what were effectively unlosable bets. I take those hard-earned gains and live bet on the Under at 48.5.
8:02 – Beer No. 2.
8:47 – Beer No. 3.
9:29 – A Chris Kreider empty-netter seals a 4-1 win for Anaheim. My first bet that day was neither Missouri’s first, nor a winner.
9:43 – I try to walk back to my hotel, this time with more snow and no functioning cell phone. I just hope my Under bet wins so I can leave some money to my family.
10:12 – On the way I think (hope) is toward my hotel, I see an open bar. I experience what I imagine sailors feel during a storm when they see a lighthouse.
10:13 – The bartender tells me he forgot to turn off the “open” sign.
10:45 (?) – I make it to the hotel. Both the bar’s sign and the bar itself are open.
11ish – To warm up – and celebrate – I order a whiskey and turn my head toward the bar TV, watching the ESPN bottom line for the Giants-Patriots score
11ish (but slightly later) – Patriots 33, Giants 15. I run the math over and over and over in my head and realize, that I have not just survived but, more importantly, I’ve won my bet.
??? – Now better dethawed, I realize the bar is packed with what is clearly some sort of corporate event. I ask someone if they’re here for the sports betting launch. Their incredulous response again reminds me there is a life outside sports betting.
11:56 – I make it back to the hotel room, charge my phone, and check my sportsbook app to make sure my math was right.
11:59 – I check Twitter. The day's posts got several more likes.
