Missouri

Last verified September 27, 2026

By the Legal Sportsbooks US editorial team

Missouri

Online and retail

Legal since

December 1, 2025 (online and retail)

Minimum age

Regulator

Missouri Gaming Commission

Licensed apps

8 online sportsbooks

State law

Mo. Const. art. III, sec. 39(g) (Amendment 2, 2024)

Is sports betting legal in Missouri?

Yes, online and in person. Voters approved Amendment 2 on November 5, 2024, by 2,961 votes, and licensed betting started on December 1, 2025. The measure is now Article III, Section 39(g) of the Missouri Constitution, and the Missouri Gaming Commission writes and enforces the rules. You have to be 21 to bet.

Where you can bet

Eight apps went live on launch day and are still the ones available: bet365, BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, Circa Sports, DraftKings, Fanatics Sportsbook, FanDuel and theScore Bet. Underdog was among ten operators the commission cleared for temporary licenses before launch, but it pulled out.

Retail sportsbooks sit inside the riverboat casinos, among them Ameristar Kansas City, Ameristar St. Charles, Harrah's Kansas City, Horseshoe St. Louis, Hollywood Casino St. Louis, River City and Century Casino Cape Girardeau. The constitution also lets each professional team hold a retail license for its stadium's sports district, and the commission counts room for 19 retail and 14 mobile licenses in all.

You can bet on Missouri college teams. Commission rule 11 CSR 45-20.360 bars bets on any individual athlete's performance in a college game that involves a Missouri college team, and it bars wagering on youth and high school events entirely. Legal Sports Report reported that the commission turned down an NCAA request to widen the college restriction in January 2026.

Operators pay 10% of adjusted gross revenue. They may deduct promotional credits of up to 25% of the month's cash receipts.

How Missouri legalized sports betting

Lottery ban and riverboats (1984 to 2008)

Article III, Section 39(9) of the constitution forbids the General Assembly to authorize lotteries or gift enterprises. Each form of legal gambling in Missouri arrived as a carve-out from that clause: the state lottery (adopted November 6, 1984), pari-mutuel horse racing (August 5, 1986), and a 1992 provision sending gaming revenue to education.

Riverboat casinos began with House Bill 149 of 1991, which voters ratified as Proposition A on November 3, 1992, 1,397,750 to 839,568. It allowed gambling excursions on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers with a $500 loss limit per excursion, and its definition of gambling games expressly left out gambling on sporting events. The legislature created the Missouri Gaming Commission in 1993.

Voters amended the constitution twice in response to Missouri Supreme Court rulings. After Harris (1994) held that several riverboat games were lotteries, voters adopted Section 39(e) on November 8, 1994, allowing games of chance on the two rivers. After Akin (1997) held that the 1994 amendment reached only gambling on the rivers themselves, putting casinos in man-made basins in doubt, voters amended Section 39(e) on November 3, 1998, to cover water-filled spaces within 1,000 feet of either river's main channel. Proposition A of November 4, 2008, an initiative, rewrote the commission's powers in Section 313.805, which now bars it from limiting wagers, losses or buy-ins. The state has 13 riverboat casinos.

Failed bills after Murphy (2018 to 2024)

The Supreme Court struck down the federal sports betting ban in Murphy v. NCAA on May 14, 2018. Missouri lawmakers had filed bills before the ruling, and they tried every year after it. Rep. Cody Smith's HB 119 cleared a House committee on April 24, 2019. Rep. Dan Shaul's 2020 bill, HB 2088, which Legal Sports Report says bundled video lottery terminals with an integrity fee and official league data, didn't get a House vote.

The House did pass Rep. Dan Houx's bills twice. HB 2502 passed 115 to 33 on March 24, 2022, and stalled on the Senate floor on April 27, 2022, with a substitute pending. HB 556 passed 118 to 35 on March 22, 2023, and didn't survive the Senate. In both years Sen. Denny Hoskins, who wanted video lottery terminals legalized alongside sports betting, led filibusters. Houx's 2024 bill, HB 2331, didn't reach a House vote, and the Senate bills (SB 824 and SB 852) didn't move either.

Amendment 2 (2023 to 2024)

The state's six professional teams, with Cardinals president Bill DeWitt III out front, moved to the ballot. The secretary of state approved their petition for circulation on November 21, 2023. The campaign committee, Winning for Missouri Education, turned in about 340,000 signatures on May 2, 2024, and the petition was certified on August 13, 2024. DraftKings and FanDuel paid for the signature drive and each gave another $5 million in September 2024. Caesars and three of its Missouri casinos put more than $4 million into the opposing committee, Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment.

The measure passed 1,478,652 to 1,475,691 (50.05% to 49.95%) and took effect December 5, 2024. It set the 10% tax, license fees of up to $250,000 (retail) and $500,000 (mobile) with renewals every five years, two mobile licenses not tied to a casino or team, and a Compulsive Gaming Fund share of the greater of 10% of tax revenue or $5 million. It required betting to start no later than December 1, 2025.

Rules and launch (2025)

On February 25, 2025, Hoskins, now secretary of state, refused to let the commission adopt emergency rules, which pushed launch past the summer. The commission filed its rules on May 14, 2025 (effective November 30), opened applications on May 15 and fixed December 1 as launch day. On August 15, 2025 it chose DK Crown Holdings (DraftKings) and Circa Hospitality Group over Betfair Interactive (FanDuel) as the candidates for the two untethered mobile licenses. FanDuel entered through St. Louis City SC instead. Retail and mobile betting started together on December 1, 2025.

Tax bill (2026)

Rep. Jeff Knight filed HB 3533 on February 27, 2026. As introduced it added a 24% tax on sports wagering receipts on top of the constitutional 10%. The Crime and Public Safety Committee dropped the sports betting tax from its substitute and passed it 9 to 7 on May 5, 2026. The bill then sat in the Rules committee, where action was postponed on May 14, and the session ended without a vote.

Sports betting court cases in Missouri

Harris v. Missouri Gaming Commission (1994)

Taxpayer Troy Harris challenged the riverboat law in 1993. The Missouri Supreme Court (No. 76123, 869 S.W.2d 58) ruled on January 25, 1994, modified on February 22, that bingo, keno, pull tabs, numbers tickets, jar tickets, push cards and punchboards were lotteries barred by Section 39(9), because skill doesn't affect the odds. It sent the other games back to the trial court, and it held that exemptions written for boats near St. Louis's Eads Bridge were facially special laws the state would have to justify on remand. The Section 39(e) amendment followed that November.

Akin v. Missouri Gaming Commission (1997)

Three taxpayers, led by W. Todd Akin, sued to stop licenses for casinos in man-made basins in Maryland Heights, which the commission was weighing in 1996. On November 25, 1997 the Missouri Supreme Court (No. 79594, 956 S.W.2d 261) reversed the dismissal of their suit, holding that the 1994 amendment allowed only river-based gambling and that land-based casinos remained unconstitutional. Voters wrote the artificial-basin language into Section 39(e) a year later.

Wood v. Ashcroft (2024)

Political consultants Jacqueline Wood and Blake Lawrence sued Secretary of State John Ashcroft in Cole County Circuit Court on August 21, 2024 (No. 24AC-CC07184) to keep Amendment 2 off the ballot. Led by attorney Marc Ellinger, they argued the office should have used post-2020 congressional district lines when setting signature targets and that it counted invalid signatures in the 1st and 5th districts. After a September 5 trial, Judge Daniel R. Green ruled for Ashcroft on September 6, 2024. He upheld the method used for the 2022 and 2024 initiatives, found the plaintiffs' signature expert not credible, and dismissed as moot a counterclaim by the campaign. Wood was later listed as treasurer of a Caesars-backed committee opposing the measure. We found no appeal and no post-election challenge to the result.

Attorney General cease-and-desist letters (2026)

Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announced cease-and-desist letters to Polymarket, KalshiEX, Crypto.com, Ludlow Exchange (Novig), Underdog and Robinhood on September 18, 2026. The two we read are dated September 16 (Kalshi) and September 17 (Novig). Signed for Hanaway by Solicitor General Louis Capozzi III, the letters call each company an unlicensed online sports wagering platform and give it two choices: stop, or get a commission license and pay the 10% tax and fees. They cite the Ninth Circuit's Assad ruling and district court rulings in Iowa, Connecticut, Utah, New York and Maryland, among others, for the view that the Commodity Exchange Act doesn't preempt state gambling law. The Kalshi letter adds that its member agreement admits 18-year-olds, against the commission's 21-and-over rule, and the press release makes the same age charge against every company except Novig. Each asked for a response within 30 days of its date, which put those two deadlines at October 16 and October 17, 2026.

Hanaway told Heartland News she hoped for a settlement and would sue if none came. On October 16, Novig's operator, Ludlow Exchange, sued Hanaway and Missouri Gaming Commission officials in federal court (E.D. Mo. No. 4:26-cv-01780). The complaint argues its sports contracts are swaps under the CFTC's exclusive jurisdiction. Crypto.com's derivatives exchange filed a similar suit in the Western District of Missouri the same day. As of October 18, 2026, we found no lawsuit by the state.

Eighth Circuit posture

Federal courts in Missouri answer to the Eighth Circuit, which hasn't ruled on whether federal commodities law preempts state gambling law. Its district courts have split. In Minnesota, Judge Katherine Menendez enjoined a state prediction market ban on July 27, 2026 in suits by the United States, Kalshi and Polymarket US (Nos. 0:26-cv-02661, 0:26-cv-02778 and 0:26-cv-02841). In Iowa, Judge Stephen Locher denied Kalshi an injunction on September 8, 2026 (KalshiEX LLC v. Bird, No. 4:26-cv-00109). Kalshi's appeal is Eighth Circuit No. 26-2874, with its opening brief due November 6, 2026. Elsewhere, the Third Circuit sided with Kalshi on April 6, 2026, and the Ninth (August 28) and Sixth (September 25) Circuits ruled against it.

Prediction markets and daily fantasy

CBS Sports listed Kalshi and Polymarket sports markets as live in Missouri on September 24, 2026, a week after the letters. Novig, which runs through Ludlow Exchange, LLC and became a CFTC-designated contract market on June 16, 2026, has an eligibility page that excludes only Nevada, Arizona and Michigan, for users 21 and over with ID.

Daily fantasy is legal. The Fantasy Sports Consumer Protection Act took effect in 2016, and operators need a commission license. A commission memo of March 19, 2024 ordered licensed operators to stop pick'em contests played against the house; peer-to-peer contests are still allowed.

Help with a gambling problem

Missouri's problem gambling helpline is 1-888-BETSOFF (1-888-238-7633).

Sources

Common questions

How we track and verify state laws

What does Legal Sportsbooks US track?

Every state's legal status, the date betting became legal, the minimum age, the regulator and the licensed apps, plus the legal history and court cases behind them, for all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Our page on how we track and verify state laws explains the details.

What do the statuses mean?

Online and retail means licensed mobile apps and in-person sportsbooks both operate. Online only means betting happens through licensed apps, with no retail sportsbooks. Retail only means you can bet in person at licensed venues, but there's no statewide app. Not legal means no licensed sportsbooks operate. Legislation pending means a bill or ballot measure is moving, but betting hasn't launched. Not yet verified means we haven't confirmed the state's current status.

Can I bet on sports where I live?

The rules follow where you are when you place the bet. Licensed apps use geolocation to confirm you're inside a state where they can operate, and some states limit betting to certain premises. Find your state in the state index, or read our guide to location rules.

How old do you have to be to bet on sports?

It's 21 in 33 of the 40 jurisdictions with legal sports betting and 18 in five: Washington, D.C., Montana, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Wyoming. In North Dakota and Washington, the tribal casino sets the age.

How current is the tracker?

State laws and licenses change, so every state entry records the date it was last verified. If a status looks out of date, the state regulator's website has the official answer.

Is this legal advice?

No. We summarize public information about state sports betting laws. Confirm the rules with your state regulator before you bet, and don't wager more than you can afford to lose.