Is Sports Betting Legal in Missouri? Yes, Live Since December 2025

Yes. Sports betting is legal in Missouri. It launched statewide on December 1, 2025, making Missouri the 39th state with legal wagering and the newest market in the country. If you’re 21+ and inside state lines, both mobile apps and retail sportsbooks at Missouri casinos are live, regulated by the Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC).

Missouri’s path here was the closest gambling vote in modern American history, and the market it produced has a license structure unlike anywhere else. Both are worth understanding.

Quick facts

The apps live in Missouri

The MGC awarded temporary online licenses to nine operators on October 22, 2025, but Missouri went live with eight apps. Underdog pulled its license days before launch, deciding to offer untaxed prediction-market contracts in Missouri with Crypto.com instead of paying the state’s 10% sportsbook tax (its Kansas City Royals partnership slot went vacant). The books that actually launched:

bet365, BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, Circa Sports, DraftKings, theScore Bet, Fanatics Sportsbook, and FanDuel.

*theScore Bet is the app formerly branded ESPN BET (Penn Entertainment). The rebrand finished on December 1, 2025, the same day Missouri launched, so the app store shows theScore Bet.

Missouri’s license design is the interesting part: up to 14 online licenses in three buckets.

The team-tethered bucket exists because Missouri’s pro franchises didn’t just support legalization. They ran it.

The Amendment 2 story: legal betting by a few hundred votes

Missouri watched every neighbor legalize first. Kansas launched in 2022, and Chiefs fans on the Missouri side of the metro spent three NFL seasons driving across State Line Road to place a legal bet. Missouri is now on the other side of that trade: Nebraska, which still has no betting app at all, is running a November 2026 ballot campaign built on exactly this argument, that its residents are handing the tax revenue to states like this one. The legislature tried and failed repeatedly; sports betting bills kept dying in the state Senate over unrelated gambling disputes.

So Missouri’s professional teams took it to the voters. A coalition led by the Cardinals, Chiefs, Royals, and Blues bankrolled the Amendment 2 campaign for November 2024, and it squeaked through by the thinnest margin imaginable:

• Election night: ahead by 4,366 votes out of nearly 3 million cast, about 0.15%.
• County-by-county official canvasses narrowed it further, to just a few hundred votes by the final tallies.
• Opponents examined the numbers and declined to request a recount; the result was certified in December 2024.

The MGC then spent 2025 writing rules and licensing operators, and wagering went live statewide on December 1, 2025, in time for the NFL stretch run. Missourians bet more than $543 million in the first month alone.

The early numbers: big handle, small tax bill

Missouri’s launch produced eye-popping handle and almost no tax, a quirk worth understanding. The $543 million wagered in December 2025 generated only about $521,000 in state tax, because operators deducted roughly $125 million in free-play and promotional credits, which Missouri lets them subtract before the 10% tax applies. Through June 2026, Missourians had wagered about $2.32 billion total, with monthly handle settling down from the launch peak as the promo wave faded. Lawmakers noticed the tiny tax take and floated raising the rate (a 2026 bill proposed going as high as 34% and capping promo deductions), but they shelved it, saying the young market needs time. The 10% rate stands for now, with a possible revisit in 2027.

How betting works in Missouri

• 21 or older, verified at signup.
• Physically inside Missouri for mobile bets, enforced by geolocation. The Kansas-side workaround now works in reverse: Kansans visiting KC’s Missouri side can bet on Missouri apps.
• Retail sportsbooks operate at Missouri’s licensed riverboat casinos.
• Full menus: pro and college sports, props, parlays, live betting. One carve-out, and it is wider than it first looks: individual-athlete wagers are prohibited in any game a Missouri college is playing in. The Gaming Commission’s approved catalog bars “wagering on the performance or nonperformance of any individual athlete in which a college from Missouri is a participant,” so the rule keys to the game, not to the athlete’s school. In a Mizzou game, props on the opposing team’s players are off the board too. Team markets are unaffected, and games with no Missouri school in them are unrestricted. Tennessee shows the stricter version: all college player props are off the board there, in every game.
• Not included: online casino games and poker remain illegal in Missouri.

What else is legal in Missouri

Missouri’s gambling menu is broader than sports betting alone:

• Riverboat casinos. Missouri’s licensed casinos, in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas and along the rivers, offer slots and table games, and now retail sportsbooks.
• The Missouri Lottery. Draw games and scratchers statewide.
• Daily fantasy sports. PrizePicks, Underdog, DraftKings, and FanDuel fantasy contests operate legally.
• Charitable bingo and raffles.

What is not legal: online casino games and online poker. Amendment 2 covered sports betting only, so iGaming remains off the table in Missouri. That is a common point of confusion for players coming from states like New Jersey or Pennsylvania, which have both legal sports betting and legal online casinos. For now, real-money online slots or poker would have to be played legally in another state.

What Missouri bettors should know

• Winnings are taxable. Gambling income is subject to federal and Missouri income tax; apps issue W-2G forms above federal reporting thresholds.
• Promos were huge at launch and are normalizing. The launch-market bonus wave (bet-and-gets, deposit matches) is the best it will ever be; expect offers to tighten as the market matures through 2026.
• Responsible gambling tools are built in: deposit limits, timeouts, and self-exclusion through the MGC framework. 1-800-GAMBLER applies statewide.

FAQ

When will sports betting be legal in Missouri? It already is. If you have seen older articles asking when Missouri will legalize, they are out of date: betting went live statewide on December 1, 2025. There is nothing left to wait for.

How do I start betting in Missouri? Be 21 or older, be physically inside Missouri, download one of the eight licensed apps (or visit a casino sportsbook), verify your identity, deposit, and bet. Geolocation confirms your location on every wager.

Is MyBookie or Bovada legal in Missouri? No. MyBookie, Bovada, and similar offshore sites are unlicensed and operate illegally in Missouri. They are not regulated by the Missouri Gaming Commission and offer no consumer protection. With eight licensed apps now live, there is no reason to use them.

Can I bet on the Chiefs, Cardinals, Royals, Blues, and Mizzou? Yes. In-state pro and college teams are all bettable under MGC rules. The one exception is individual-athlete wagers in any game a Missouri college is playing. That covers both sides of the field: in a Mizzou game, props on the opposing team’s players are off the board as well. Mizzou team markets are fine, and a college game with no Missouri school in it carries no restriction at all.

I’m in Kansas City. Which state’s apps do I use? Whichever state you’re physically standing in. Both Kansas and Missouri are legal; apps detect your side of the line automatically, and most operators hold licenses in both states, so one account usually works across the metro.

Why did it take Missouri so long? Legislative gridlock. Sports betting kept getting tied to a fight over unregulated slot-style “gray machines.” The ballot route bypassed the legislature entirely.

Where does the tax money go? Amendment 2 earmarks state betting-tax revenue primarily for education funding, with a portion dedicated to problem-gambling programs. So far that pot is small, because promotional deductions have kept taxable revenue low in the launch months.

How fast are withdrawals, and are winnings taxed? Payout speed depends on the app, typically one to three days for standard methods and faster for instant options. Winnings are taxable income under federal and Missouri law, and apps issue a W-2G form above federal reporting thresholds.

Could more apps launch in Missouri? Yes. Missouri’s law allows up to 14 online licenses, and only eight went live at launch, so additional operators (including a replacement for the Royals slot Underdog vacated) could join as the market matures.

Is online casino legal in Missouri? No. Only sports betting is legal online. Internet slots, table games, and poker for real money remain illegal, because Amendment 2 authorized sports wagering only.

Sources

• Missouri Gaming Commission: monthly sports wagering financial report (June 2026, reported 7/15/26: licensee-by-licensee handle, deductions and tax)
• Missouri Gaming Commission: approved sports wagering catalog (the impermissible-wagers rules and the approved event list)
• Ballotpedia: Missouri Amendment 2 (2024)
• Missouri Independent: margin narrows as counties tally official results (Nov 2024)
• Sports Handle: Missouri sportsbooks approved ahead of December 2025 launch
• Gaming Today: Missouri launch day report