Missouri - The Lone New Sports Betting State in 2025
Lawmakers in a majority of the 12 U.S. states that still had yet to legalize sports betting discussed the possibility in calendar year 2025 - but only the Missouri legislature managed to authorize it, effective Dec. 1.
The presence of three professional sports teams - including the 2025 NFL Super Bowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs - and Missouri's status as a mid-sized state further added to a nationwide industry focus.
The result? The first month produced a satisfying $543.1 million in betting handle - the total amount wagered. But two issues have arisen.
The first one is that while the Missouri betting tax rate is a modest 10% - still, on the surface, seemingly producing more than $50 million in tax revenue for December - the actual amounted collected, as announced by the Missouri Gaming Commission, was just $521,000.
The reason is that the state's eight mobile sportsbooks were allowed to deduct for free-bet promotions that included a remarkable $125 million in such bets being offered and accepted by gamblers in Missouri. That meant that half of the mobile betting operators paid zero taxes from December wagers.
In fact, one of the sportsbooks that were expected to be more aggressive in promotional spending paid out all but $50,000 of the overall mobile sportsbook total tax revenue around $400,000.
A drop in wagers after only one month in Missouri
As a second issue, the January sports betting handle declined to $385.1 million.
Each state's sportsbook industry experiences as a decline from December to January, as a result of far fewer college and pro sports football games being on the menu. But that large a drop wasn't a sure thing, given that the legal gambling option was so new in the state.
The $152 million in single-game football wagers in December declined more than 50% to $72 million in January. Pro and college basketball barely cut into the drop, rising about 10% in January from the nearly $99 million wagered in December.
An overall betting decline of almost 30% in just the second month of legal betting is a bit disappointing, as was the mere $138,000 in taxes collected in January.
Missouri is far from the only state to allow for deductions for promotional spending. But almost eight years after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision paved the way for any state to authorize sports betting, two sportsbooks in particular seemed to have perfected the practice.
The battle to be Missouri's favorite sportsbook
The answer as to which sportsbook industry giants will emerge as the Missouri market leader may not be settled for quite some time, if early figures are any indication.
In December, two top sportsbooks competed with $212.7 million next to $195.3 million, followed by $144.4 million in placed bets compared to to $125.7 million in January.
The combined figures in two months were $339.7 million in wagers for one, and $338.4 million for the other. Neither has yet paid any tax dollars to the state.
The third place sportsbook came in January at at a distance at $34 million - barely edging out the next competitor at $33 million total. Fortunately, it did not have to fork over any tax dollars in January, thanks to deductions for larger promotional spending.
The leading retail commercial casino sportsbook over the first two months has been Century Casino Cape Girardeu at $1.6 million in wagers. Right behind, however, are Hollywood Casino in St. Louis ($1.5 million), Ameristar Casino in St. Charles ($1.4 million), and Argosy Casino Riverside ($1 million).
Unlike many states, Missouri regulators provide a rundown of exactly how much money is wagered on each sport.
In the first two months of wagering at the leading sportsbooks in Missouri, gamblers risked a total of $73.2 million on basketball, $50 million on football, $9.1 million on tennis, $8 million on hockey, and $5.8 million on soccer.
Missouri retail casino pecking order seems settled
The top three brick-and-mortar casinos in Missouri in gross revenue in Fiscal Year 2025 (July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025) were, in order, Ameristar Casino in St. Charles and then River City Casino and Hollywood Casino - both located in St. Louis.
The order remained the same through the first seven months of Fiscal Year 2026, as the St. Charles property took in $202.6 million in revenue. River City and Hollywood continued their close duel, with the former at $179.1 million and the latter checking in at $174.6 million.
Two Kansas City based properties - Ameristar and Harrah's - continued as a distant fourth and fifth place at $133 million and $119.4 million, respectively, out of 13 total casinos in the state.
Read More
