While Missouri sports betting regulators are hard at work, sportsbooks likely will not launch until this summer.
Missouri Gaming Commission Chair Jan Zimmerman told KCUR last week that she expects Missouri sports betting to begin by the summer. The ballot initiative that passed in November requires sportsbooks to launch by December.
MGC Executive Director Mike Leara laid out a similar timeline last month.
MGC works on Missouri sports betting
Zimmerman told the Kansas City NPR station that the state benefits from lessons learned in other markets.
The commission is working on regulations. Those regulations need approval from the governor and the secretary of state before a 30-day public comment period.
Then there is the licensing process, which includes background checks.
Show-Me State setup
According to MGC’s interpretation of the ballot question, each of the state’s 13 riverboat casinos can open an in-person sportsbook and operate an online sportsbook.
Missouri’s six professional sports teams also can operate in-person and online sportsbooks. The MGC can also allocate two untethered online licenses.
Missouri will tax sports betting revenue at 10%.
Long, winding road for Missouri
In 2022, it appeared Missouri and Kansas would race to launch sports betting first. Kansas legalized and launched the industry that year, while Missouri was left until the public referendum in 2024.
After multiple legislative failures, the state’s professional sports teams united to launch the Winning for Missouri Education ballot initiative.
DraftKings and FanDuel contributed more than $40 million to the campaign.
Close call in Missouri
Caesars supported an opposition campaign throughout much of the run-up to the election because of the ballot question language. Once it emerged that the MGC would allow each casino a skin rather than just one skin per company operating one or more casinos in the state, the opposition campaign pulled back its efforts.
Leara told the Missouri Independent that each operator and each location could apply for a license. That means four for Caesars: one for the company and three for its casinos.
The ballot question barely passed with 50.05% of the votes.