Launch of sports betting in Missouri to be delayed

Denny Hoskins: Emergency rules are unnecessary to meet Dec. 1 sports wagering deadline.

The Missouri Secretary of State’s office’s rejection of an emergency rules request from the Missouri Gaming Commission means no sports bets can be placed in the state until at least this fall, according to state officials.

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins last month denied the gaming commission’s request intended to allow it to accept license applications from casinos and online operators to kickstart sports wagering. If the emergency rules would have been accepted, gaming commission officials believe sports betting could have started by this summer.

While officials with the secretary of state’s office said Hoskins was unavailable for comment for this story, they pointed to a recent opinion piece he wrote on the department’s website explaining his decision.

“First and foremost, we must question the notion that these rules constitute an emergency, due to the high threshold defined in RSMo 536.025,” he wrote.

The state statute referenced says an emergency rule may be made only if the state agency “finds that an immediate danger to the public health, safety or welfare requires emergency action or the rule is necessary to preserve a compelling governmental interest that requires an early effective date.”

Hoskins said the standard rulemaking process is more than capable of achieving the desired outcome well ahead of the Dec. 1 deadline as set by Amendment 2. Narrowly approved by voters in November, the state amendment allows people in Missouri over 21 years old to place bets on professional and collegiate sports games in casinos and online apps. Its passage made Missouri the 39th state, along with the District of Columbia, to allow some form of sports betting.

Hoskins said under the proper procedure, the proposed rules could be effective by Sept. 30.

“This confirms that there is no legitimate justification for bypassing the standard rulemaking process, which is designed to give the public the chance to weigh in on decisions that affect them,” he said.

Starting the process
Jan Zimmerman, Missouri Gaming Commission chair, said the emergency rules request was made so her team could start the vetting process for those seeking licenses, which includes each of the state’s 13 casinos and six major league sports franchises. The latter are eligible to allow sports betting as Amendment 2 also legalizes wagering on sporting events in special districts near pro sports stadiums.

“Whether it’s a corporation or an individual, all those background investigations are done by the gaming division of the Missouri [State] Highway Patrol,” Zimmerman said, adding that process includes the financial and criminal history information of all those who would be employed in sports wagering-related jobs. “We want to make sure that licenses are issued to individuals who are appropriate to be licensed.”

In a perfect world, the information received is correct the first time, Zimmerman said.

“That never happens,” she said. “We never get all the documents that are required because the process is extensive. It just takes a while for the gaming division of the Highway Patrol to vet all that information and contact all of the jurisdictions where those individuals have lived or worked and all that.”

In addition to each casino operating company and the major league sports franchises, two internet-only companies could offer online gambling in the state.

“I think a lot of people in the state of Missouri just assume it’s going to be Draft Kings or FanDuel,” Zimmerman said of the sports betting companies that donated millions last year in support of Amendment 2. “That’s not necessarily true. It’s a level playing field for all of them, and once that criteria becomes public about what we’re looking at, then they’ll all have the opportunity to apply for those untethered licenses.”

According to the fiscal note for Amendment 2 from the state auditor’s office, tax revenue could reach up to $28.9 million annually when sports betting is fully operational in the state. The tax rate on betting revenue is set at 10% – a number that can’t be altered without another constitutional amendment. Of the nearly $29 million in gaming tax revenue, $5 million would be designated for a fund that addresses gambling addictions. The remaining money is for public schools and higher education, state officials say.

“It absolutely is a guesstimate,” Zimmerman said of the annual tax revenue to be generated by sports betting. “I’ve seen numbers all over the map.”

While Missouri was the only state to gain approval to join the legal sports betting market in 2024, five additional states – Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska and Ohio – legalized it the previous year. The Show Me State will help contribute to an already rapidly growing total of sports betting revenue, which reached $13.7 billion in 2024, a 25.4% year-over-year jump over 2023, according to the American Gaming Association. Americans legally wagered nearly $148 billion on sports in 2024, a 23.6% increase over the prior year.

On deck
State officials said the proposed licensing rules will be published March 17 in the Missouri Register, which leads to a 30-day comment period. A public hearing on the rules is scheduled for April 17 in the Missouri Gaming Commission’s hearing room in Jefferson City.

At the conclusion of the comment period, the proposed rules and the public’s comments are forwarded to the state legislature’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, which has 30 days to request changes or hold a hearing. The rules then will be published and incorporated into the Code of State Regulations, with an expected effective date of either Aug. 30 or Sept. 30.

In the interim, Zimmerman said the gaming commission’s roughly 80-person workforce will add several new positions in preparation for the sports gambling launch.

“They have actually been interviewing for a director of sports wagering, so that’ll be a new position that will be part of the MGC staff. That person’s primary responsibility will be to oversee the sports wagering part of our operations,” she said, noting commission Executive Director Mike Leara is looking to shuffle some of the department’s existing vacancies toward the new jobs.

Despite the delay, Zimmerman said the commission is confident the Dec. 1 deadline passed by voters will be met. However, being ready by the start of the NFL season, which kicks off Sept. 4, is another story.

“To get everybody’s license, and to get all those applications in … I would say getting all that done in the month of September would be kind of wishful thinking,” she said.