Missouri Sports Betting

Missouri voters narrowly approved Amendment 2 on November 5, 2024, permitting both retail and online sports betting for individuals aged 21 and older. The measure passed with approximately 50.1% of the vote — one of the closest sports betting referendums in U.S. history.

The Missouri Gaming Commission officially opened the application process for sports betting licenses in May 2025. The legislation took legal effect on August 30, 2025, and the MGC set December 1, 2025 as the universal launch date — the latest permissible date under the ballot initiative's language. The process from voter approval to first wager took nearly 13 months.

Missouri law authorizes up to 14 online licenses and up to 19 retail licenses, distributed among the state's 13 licensed casinos and six professional sports teams. License fees are $250,000 for retail sportsbook licenses and $500,000 for online/mobile licenses. Two standalone online-only licenses are also available.

Sports betting officially launched in Missouri just after midnight on December 1, 2025. Nine mobile sportsbooks went live simultaneously: DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars, ESPN BET, Fanatics, bet365, Underdog, and Circa. Eight of the state's 13 casinos opened retail sportsbooks on or shortly after launch, including BetMGM at Century Casino Cape Girardeau, Caesars at Horseshoe St. Louis and Harrah's Kansas City, ESPN BET at Hollywood Casino St. Louis, Argosy Kansas City, and River City Casino, and Fanatics at Ameristar Kansas City and Ameristar St. Charles. Three professional sports teams have announced operator partnerships: the St. Louis Cardinals (bet365), Kansas City Royals (Underdog), and St. Louis City SC (FanDuel), though none had opened in-stadium retail sportsbooks as of mid-2026.

In January 2018, Rep. Bart Korman introduced a new bill that would have allowed licensed riverboat casinos and daily fantasy companies to expand their offerings to include traditional sports betting. Legislative hearings were held in Missouri prior to the Supreme Court's ruling that abolished PASPA, but the bill did not advance beyond the committee stage.

In January 2019, a number of new sports betting bills were introduced. In April HB 119 cleared House committee. The bill would regulate legal wagering on sporting events to vessels on water only. There are no provisions for online bets in the bill. In May 2021, it appeared hopes for sports betting in Missouri were dead for the rest of the calendar year when lawmakers did not consider a bill that would allow online and retail sports betting through state casinos.

In 2020 and 2021, Missouri legislators introduced bills – one with a provision for the lottery to offer games based on outcomes of sporting events; and two bills tying online sportsbooks to riverboat casinos and VLTs. These bills stalled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2022, a bill made it all the way to the Senate only to be filibustered by the a competing bill.

In February 2024, Winning for Missouri Education announced it was attempting to garner 170,000 valid signatures for its Missouri sports betting ballot initiative petition, with the hopes of turning in signatures to the Secretary of State by May 5. Should the initiative receive approval, Missouri residents would have the opportunity to vote on the matter in November. The proposed ballot measure entails establishing both online and brick-and-mortar sportsbooks, accessible through the state's 13 casinos and six professional sports franchises. Additionally, the Missouri Gaming Commission would be empowered to grant two separate licenses, with sports betting revenue subjected to a 10% taxation rate.