Details of 2025 Missouri Sports Betting Launch are Starting to Trickle Out

With Missouri sports betting officially certified following a tightly contested election, details of its launch and what it will look like are beginning to trickle out.

Some of the most pertinent nuggets are already public knowledge. For instance, we know that Amendment 2, the measure that legalized sports betting in Missouri, calls for services to roll out no later than December 2025. But does The Show Me State have a more exact date?

Plus, what will Missouri sports betting even look like? Is online Missouri sports betting legal, too? How many Missouri sportsbooks will there be? Do officials expect sports wagering to be instantly popular? Or are they delivering more conservative revenue projections?

The list of questions goes on and on. We are here to try answering as many as we can.

When Will Missouri Sports Betting Officially Launch?

This is the question to which everyone wants to know the answer. The popularity of sports betting in the United States continues to climb. And with 38 states already having launched some form of legal sports wagering, Missouri is technically behind the eight-ball.

Naturally, this suggests there will be a rush to launch Missouri sports betting as quickly as possible. Officials have essentially confirmed as much, too. Missouri Gaming Commission Executive Mike Leara tells the Associated Press that the state is hoping to roll out operations “by late spring or early summer.” 

If we had to guess, August 1, 2025 is the state’s absolute latest target. That month marks the start of NFL preseason. And in many cases, states plan their legal gambling launch around the peak of betting on the NFL. Missouri is no doubt thinking along the same lines. Not only do they have one of the biggest NFL betting draws in their market (Kansas City Chiefs), but Leara’s proposed timeline entirely aligns with the concept.

Of course, the absence of a concrete launch date for Missouri sports betting leaves the issue somewhat open-ended. The state still needs to accept and review applications for sports betting licenses before even digging into the launch setup. As Leara says, though, The Show-Me State is hoping to streamline this process.

“We’re looking at a streamlined process for that to initially authorize sports betting [by late spring or early summer],” Leara tells the Missouri Independent. “Those are definitely optimistic timelines, but so far, we’re on track, so when we issue that first temporary license, then they will be able to start accepting those bets from within Missouri.”

More will likely be known about the Missouri sports betting timeline in January. According to Leara, that’s when the state hopes to begin reviewing applications.

What Will Legal Sports Betting in The Show-Me State Look Like?

Will Missouri sports betting include only retail locations? Mobile betting sites? Both? What type of taxes will sportsbooks in Missouri pay to operate in the market? Pat Evans of Legal Sports Report provides the answers to these questions, and more, below:

“The amendment allows each of the state’s casinos to operate in-person and online sportsbooks. Each of the state’s six professional teams also can operate sportsbooks. The MGC also can allocate two standalone online licenses. Missouri will institute a 10 percent tax on sports betting revenue. 

“Caesars’ initial opposition was likely over a misunderstanding in the ballot language. It could have been interpreted that only each of the state’s six casino operators would receive an online license. Instead, MGC Executive Director Mike Leara told the Missouri Independent that each casino company and each location could apply for a license. For Caesars, that means four: one for Caesars Entertainment and three for each of the casinos it owns in the state.”

Competition over independent online sports betting licenses in Missouri is expected to be fierce. Amendment 2 allows for only two beyond the state’s casino operators and pro sports franchises.

Granted, many believe there will not be much competition. FanDuel and DraftKings contributed more than $40 million to the efforts to legalize Missouri sports betting. That type of upfront commitment suggests they have an agreement to enter the market in place. At the very least, they seem like overwhelming favorites to land the two available Missouri online sports betting licenses.

How Much Revenue Will Missouri Sports Betting Generate?

Experts are already recalibrating Missouri sports betting revenue estimates relative to the fanfare its legalization has received. As of now, gambling is expected to be worth $25-plus million in annual tax revenue for the first five years.

These estimates are always super approximate. This one, in particular, was commissioned by Winnin for Missouri Education, the coalition of professional franchises that spearheaded the push for sports betting. According to the study’s findings, almost $22 billion will be wagered during the first five years, and more than 98 percent of those wagers will be processed through an online sportsbook. 

What’s more, projections have Missouri’s 10 percent sports betting tax resulting in $134 million of total tax revenue over the first half-decade. While this is a nice chunk of change, do not be surprised if and when Missouri betting outperforms projections. The money spent by DraftKings and Fanduel attempting to legalize wagering in The Show-Me State suggests they see even more upside in the market. And they might be right. Missouri is home to a vast collection of pro sports teams, has a top-20 population and sounds like it will roll out online sports betting right along with retail locations, which will maximize immediate accessibility.

 Take a look at this list of the top online sportsbooks so you can find one that works for all of your sports betting needs: