Missouri Pinpoints Sports Betting Start Date — It’s Not What Bettors Hoped
Posted on: June 11, 2025, 08:28h.
Last updated on: July 17, 2025, 09:52h.
- Missouri sports betting won’t begin until Dec. 1, 2025
- State gaming officials had hoped to expedite the sports betting launch
- Missouri State Secretary Denny Hoskin’s office denied the earlier start
The Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC) continues to field sports betting applications for the Show Me State’s forthcoming retail and online sports wagering market. State officials have divulged a likely start date, but it’s one bettors won’t be too happy about.
Missourians narrowly passed Amendment 2 during the 2024 election with a 50.05% majority. The ballot referendum amended the Missouri Constitution to add sports betting as a permissible form of commercial gambling.
The vote authorized two fully remote sportsbooks. Missouri’s sports betting law also allows each riverboat casino and professional sports stadium/arena to pursue in-person and online sports betting licenses.
The MGC opened its sports betting application period on May 15. Applications for the two mobile licenses are due by July 15, with a hearing set for August 13 to award the coveted concessions two days later on August 15.
Retail and online sportsbook applications tethered to a casino or sports venue are due by September 12.
No Expedited Start
Amendment 2 requires that the MGC finalize its governing sports betting conditions, field applications, award licenses, and allow legal bets to begin by no later than Dec. 1, 2025. With state officials hearing from hordes of sports bettors that they want to bet ASAP, and some lawmakers saying the state continues to miss out on associated tax revenue with each passing day, the MGC sought to allow bets to begin earlier.
The MGC presented Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskin’s office with emergency rules to allow approved sportsbooks to begin taking action this summer. Hoskin, however, denied the motion.
The only answer we were given is that it didn’t meet the requirements under the statute,” said MGC Executive Director Mike Leara.
The MGC says sports betting should be expected to begin on December 1.
The actual text of the ballot referendum and constitutional amendment didn’t specifically prohibit an earlier launch than December 1. Instead, the text said the MGC shall decide rules and repercussions and establish “a start date for all sports wagering that is not later than December 1, 2025. No sports wagering, either retail or mobile, shall be offered in the state before such start date established by the Commission.”
Licensing Details
Physical sportsbook licenses cost $250K each, and mobile permits go for double that amount at $500K.
Oddsmakers will direct 10% of their gross sports betting win to the state. The first $5 million in state sports betting tax revenue collected each year will go to the Compulsive Gambling Prevention Fund. The remaining tax benefit will support K-12 and higher public education.
Missouri is bordered by eight states. When its sports betting market launches on December 1, it will join Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, and Tennessee in allowing some form of legal sports betting. Only Oklahoma shares a border with Missouri that continues to prohibit sports gambling.
Of the seven legal sports betting jurisdictions, all except Nebraska offer online bets. Tennessee only has online sportsbooks, while the other markets provide both in-person and online sports gambling.
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