All the votes have been counted and verified; Amendment 2 has officially passed by the will of the people, and now it is up to the regulatory agencies to put all the pieces in place for a successful launch of mobile sports betting in Missouri. But when will it happen?
Hard Deadline
The language in the legislation is unequivocal: December 1, 2025, is the deadline for the launch of digital sports betting in Missouri. Nevertheless, it is no secret that all parties benefit from a sooner-than-later launch, but there are several steps necessary to making that happen.
Missouri State University Finance and Economics Professor David Mitchell spoke about the mechanics that are necessary to get mobile and retail sports betting off the ground.
“It takes time to get those things in place. Licenses, do background checks on people to make sure businesses are set up and websites and everything. It just doesn’t happen overnight,” said Mitchell. “It’s more of an operational constraint than it is a legal constraint.”
In other words, getting it right is more important than launching it quickly, but sometimes there are hiccups in the process that can bog the process down. Nevertheless, the regulators will be working with all of the major players in the industry.
The duopoly that currently dominates the market, FanDuel and DraftKings, donated a combined $40 million to the political action committee, Winning for Missouri Education, which successfully campaigned for the legalization of sports betting.
Despite an advertising blitz imploring Missourians to vote for a sports betting bill that highlighted the benefits to the state’s educational system through taxes on sports betting revenues, the referendum passed by less than 3000 votes despite nearly 3 million votes being cast.
Although the Missouri Gaming Commission has until December to cut through all the red tape and vet the sportsbooks requesting licenses, it has been rumored the launch will come before the NFL regular season launches in September.
Crossing the Line
The impact of the legislation will bring in millions to the state’s tax coffers, with estimates ranging from $9 million to $20 million per annum. While that will benefit the state’s educational system, it also has a positive impact on the status of some of the state’s professional sports teams, primarily the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs have been getting wooed by neighboring Kansas to cross state lines and reside in Kansas City, Kansas, replete with a state-of-the-art stadium that would be funded by a substantial influx of tax dollars, something the team’s current local and state governments have been unwilling to do.
Yet, now that sports betting has been passed, the prospects of the Chiefs, and perhaps the Royals, remaining in Missouri are much better as they will be getting millions in sponsorships with the online sportsbooks that will want to partner with them.
And not only will Kansas remain a state without a professional sports franchise, but its tax revenue on sports betting will suffer as well. Missourians will no longer have to cross state lines to make a bet, which means a decreased betting handle and fewer profits for the sportsbooks in the Sunflower State and the state itself.
