Will Missouri Introduce Legal Sports Betting in 2023?

This is a big week for sports bettors in Missouri .

The Kansas City Chiefs face the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 57 this Sunday, and naturally, the rabid fans from The Show-Me State will be fully engaged in their favorite team’s performance in the big game (and likely taking the Chiefs with their Super Bowl picks). Unfortunately, they'll need to travel out-of-state to make a wager, with Missouri still yet to adopt legal sports betting.

Some lawmakers are trying to change that: there are currently six bills in the Missouri legislature that could legalize sports betting in Missouri (three in the House and three in the Senate). Two of the bills in the House - HB 556 and HB 581 - had their first and second readings in January. 

A new path for Missouri sports betting

As the House Emerging Issues Committee deliberates a hearing on HB 556, Rep. Dan Houx is hoping to use small wins from 2022’s legislative session to find more momentum with this effort.

Houx sponsored a bill last year aimed at legalizing both retail and online sports betting, which would have opened the door for up to 39 mobile sports betting sites in Missouri. That attempt sputtered when it hit the Senate as Sen. Danny Hoskins hoped to include video lottery terminals (VLT) in the legislation (a move that prompted Sen. Mike Bernskoetter to file an amendment to remove the language, resulting in a filibuster and ultimately no vote on the bill.)

Houx’s new bill is quite similar to last year’s. It also creates 39 mobile skins that the best online sportsbooks can bid on, and would include licenses for retail sportsbooks at the state’s 13 riverboat casinos. His bill is backed by a coalition of Missouri’s 6 professional sports teams in St. Louis and Kansas City as well as 5 of the state’s 6 casino operators (Caesars included).

This legislation would tax revenue on sports betting in Missouri at 10%, which is marginally lower than the national average of about 16% tax on sports betting revenue. In previous years, bills regarding Missouri sports betting have passed in the House with bipartisan support.

Outside of HB 556, HB 581 has also been referred to the House Emerging Issues Committee and received a hearing yesterday Feb. 8. HB 953 is the third bill sitting in the House that would potentially legalize sports wagering, but it has also yet to be assigned a hearing date. 

Sports betting challenged in the Missouri Senate

Sen. Denny Hoskins sponsored SB 1 for this legislative session but includes sports wagering as a provision in the bill. This bill though would primarily modify video lottery provisions with the creation of the Honoring Missouri Veterans and Supporting Missouri Education Act.

When last year’s legislation failed in the Senate, Hoskins said that a sports betting-only bill would have a “slim chance” to pass both chambers. While he argues that VLTs have much greater tax-generating potential than sports betting does, the state’s casino operators - like Penn Entertainment, Boyd, and MGM in addition to Caesars - are strongly opposed.

Mike Winter, the president of the Missouri Gaming Association, testified against previous bills that included VLTs and intends to do so again in the future. Nevertheless, SB 1 has been referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer’s SB 30 would also authorize sports betting in Missouri by classifying it as a “game of skill.”

If passed, Missouri sports betting would be taxed at 10% and all wagering would be done on what the state calls “excursion game boats” or via mobile sportsbooks. SB 279 would also define sports betting in Missouri as a “game of skill,” and is currently awaiting a 2nd reading and has yet to be assigned to a committee.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry is supportive of standalone bills permitting sports betting in Missouri too, so Hoskins’ effort to introduce VLTs to the state’s marketplace faces an uphill battle. 

Missed opportunities for Missouri sports betting

The American Gaming Association published research this week that projects over 50 million American adults to wager on Super Bowl 57 in some legal form or fashion, with nearly 40% of those wagers being placed through online sports betting sites.

Both of Missouri’s neighbors have active sports betting marketplaces that Missourians cross state lines to utilize. With Kansas sports betting going live in 2022, Kansas City residents on the Missouri side of the city now have access to the best Super Bowl betting promos on mobile sportsbooks like DraftKings, PointsBet, and Barstool Sportsbook within driving distance.

On the other side of Missouri, St. Louis bettors can also jump in their cars and take advantage of the ever-popular FanDuel and BetMGM, which are just two of the seven mobile sportsbooks that Illinois sports betting has to offer. 

Will 2023 be the year sports betting in Missouri becomes a reality?