Missouri Set For Final March Madness Without Legal Sportsbooks
Missouri residents have no legal sportsbooks available to put bets as the 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament pointers off today. That will change for the 2026 tournament.
Though Missouri citizens approved legal books on the 2024 ballot, wagerers can't place their very first bets till fall 2025. In the meantime, Show Me State customers looking to wager with a legal sportsbook will need to wager in a nearby state.
Why Missouri will not have legal sportsbooks this March
After years trying to legalize sports wagering through Missouri's statehouse, proponents consisting of the state's significant expert sports teams and leading national sportsbooks, pressed for betting approval via a 2024 tally step. After enduring a late legal difficulty and eight-figure opposition campaign, the measure gone by a couple of thousand votes out of almost 3 million ballots cast.
Regulators entrusted with carrying out legal sports betting expected books to go live by summer season 2025. Missouri's Secretary of State delayed that when he denied a petition to speed up the regulative procedure.
Even in a best-case circumstance, it was not likely Missouri would have books licensed before March Madness began.
The regulatory procedure consists of promoting essential rules such as monetary disclosures, licensure qualification, background checks, event wagering eligibility and a host of other choices. Each book likewise needs to be checked separately.
In most of the 30 other states with legal online sports betting, the time from legal wagering approval to first wager has been around six-to-nine months.
A targeted summer season approval would have been one of the United States' quicker turnarounds. The existing timeline tasks the first books to start in October or November of this year ahead of a legally mandated Dec. 1 go-live date.
Missouri betting choices for the 2025 tournament
Missouri bettors happy to cross state lines to bet with a legal sportsbook have multiple options.
Missouri's 2 biggest metro areas, St. Louis and Kansas City, border Illinois and Kansas, respectively. Both states have multiple legal sports wagering options and are a relatively easy drive (or perhaps stroll) from the respective Missouri cities' downtown cores.
Iowa, Kentucky and Tennessee don't share major population centers however use a number of the exact same major online sportsbook brand names. Arkansas enables statewide mobile wagering however only with three regional brands associated with the state's gambling establishments. Nebraska just permits in-person wagering while Oklahoma has no legal sportsbook wagering alternatives.
Missourians seeking to bank on the 2025 March Madness may likewise put contracts with exchange wagering platforms such as Kalshi and Robinhood.
Future Missouri sports betting
By 2026, Missouri is set to have roughly a lots major sportsbooks, most or all expected to be live ahead of that year's Super Bowl and NCAA Tournament.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which combined contributed more than $30 million to the Missouri sports wagering tally measure, both revealed public intents to release in the state. BetMGM, the country's No. 3 operator by manage behind the duo, likewise prepares to go live in the state.
Caesars, which moneyed the opposition project over concerns about licensing gain access to structure, would likewise be placed to go live. Other live books in neighboring states including BetRivers, ESPN BET, bet365, Fanatics and Hard Rock might likewise be amongst the brand-new operators.
Once live, sportsbooks will let in-state bettors position wagers on Show Me State athletic programs including the University of Missouri. This contrasts with Illinois, which prohibits bettors physically situated within its borders to bank on in-state college teams.