Missouri Sports Betting Rules In Governor’s Hands


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Missouri sports betting

Missouri sports betting has taken a significant step forward toward the state’s summer launch goal. 

Missouri Gaming Commission Chair Jan Zimmerman said this week that a draft of the MO sports betting rules was sent to Gov. Mike Kehoe’s office for review. Once Kehoe and the secretary of state approve the draft, there will be a 30-day public comment period.

Zimmerman previously said the goal is to have sportsbooks up and running by this summer. According to the ballot language that passed in November, the industry must be live by December.

Involved Missouri sports betting process

Zimmerman told KSHB that the MGC staff is working hard to get sportsbooks live. 

“We got a gasp from the staff when we said we wanted to be (live by) mid to late summer, because it is so involved,” Zimmerman told the TV station. “That whole application process is really intensive and really takes a lot of work by the background investigators. It takes a lot of work by the people who are trying to be licensed, because they have to get us all this paperwork about their financial backgrounds and all that. 

“We knew that even June was going to be really aggressive. The staff, they’ve been working nights and weekends and holidays to try and make sure that we can get it out there.”

Missouri framework

The state’s 13 riverboat casinos each can apply for licenses to operate online sportsbooks. They can also have in-person sportsbooks. 

Each of the six Missouri professional sports teams can also operate sportsbooks. The MGC can also allocate two untethered licenses to sportsbook operators.

The state will tax sports betting revenue at 10%

Long wait nearly over

At one point, it appeared Missouri and Kansas would race to launch sportsbooks first. Instead, Kansas sportsbooks launched in September 2022

Lawmakers continued to debate the issue in Missouri, even in the 2024 legislative session. With those failures, professional sports teams in the state launched the Winning for Missouri Education ballot initiative

Despite some opposition, the initiative received more than 50% of votes in November, legalizing sports betting in the Show-Me State. 

Photo by Charlie Riedel / Associated Press