On December 1, Missouri will join the club of U.S. sports betting states. The Show-Me State will become the 39th in the country to legalise sports betting since the PASPA annulment by the Supreme Court in 2018.
Shmulik Segal, CEO and Co-Founder of Media Troopers, explains why Missouri is well-positioned to build a profitable, sustainable sports betting market with considerable betting hold, operator profits and tax revenues.
Size Matters
Missouri is home to around 6.2 million people, which is pretty close to Maryland, Colorado and Indiana, which all have populations between 6 and 7 million.
If looking in comparison, these states managed to produce a viable betting market for their modest population size.
In 2024, Maryland sportsbooks generated $5.9 billion and $635.7m in handle and gross revenue, respectively. Indiana did $5.2bn and $485m, and Colorado $6.2bn and collected $475.2m.
These figures show that Missouri is looking to generate gross revenues between $5-$6bn.
Stopping the Bettor Leakage
Currently, many Missourians are still crossing into neighbouring states, including Kansas, Illinois, and Iowa, to place legal sports bets. This shows that there is already a lot of market drive and demand that Missouri can now capitalise on by keeping these jobs, profits and tax revenues in the local economy.
The market is already education and adapted to sports betting, so this easy conversion of existing demand should give Missouri a strong start.
Practical Tax Structure
Missouri will issue a moderate betting tax structure of 10 per cent on mobile and retail sports betting. This is a competitive tax that will also give operators incentives to enter the state, create jobs, compete and invest in customer promotions and acquisition.
Retail and Mobile Combined
Unlike some states that launched in-person betting before mobile or others that have only one option, Missouri plans to launch both mobile and retail sports betting at the same time. This will provide customers with a holistic experience, allow flexibility and cross-selling, and create more trust when customers know there is a physical location for a sportsbook if any issues come up.
Avid Sports Fan Base
Missouri is home to some of the country’s most prominent professional sports franchises, including the Kansas City Chiefs, St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Cardinals, and Kansas City Royals. These local fan bases tend to drive sports betting as part of an added dimension to supporting a home team.
It also provides opportunities for teams involved in sponsorships, co-marketing with sportsbooks, and joint initiatives for community support and responsible gaming.
Operator Competition
There are several factors that make Missouri a highly attractive marketplace for betting operators. In addition to the reasonable tax structure, the sports betting legalisation tide has slowed down, as most U.S. states have already legalised their betting markets. This leaves many large sportsbook operators like FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM with fewer expansion opportunities.
We will see more competition for licenses and investment in the launch and in growth, which will benefit the local economy in terms of job creation, taxes, sponsorships, investment in facilities, community projects and more.
Conclusion
Good things come to those who wait, and the Show-Me State seemed to have waited for exactly the right time to launch its sports betting market. Although it is coming years later than many states, Missouri’s betting rollout will be pushed by strong tailwinds. Its population size puts it on the same bar as Maryland, Indiana, and Colorado, which generate hundreds of millions in sportsbook revenues.
It is nestled perfectly between other legal states, giving it an existing demand and customer base. The deeply rooted sports culture in the state will certainly propel fan-supportive betting, and the regulatory tax and licensing structure is already creating high demand and competition from operators. From all angles, it looks like Missouri’s sports betting market is positioned to be a winner.
For Media Troopers, a Pennsylvania-based digital marketing agency with 15 licences and operations in 29 regulated jurisdictions across North America, Missouri will be a new and exciting market to add to its growing list.
The post Show-Me The Money: why Missouri’s sports betting market is built to thrive appeared first on G3 Newswire.
On December 1, Missouri will join the club of U.S. sports betting states. The Show-Me State will become the 39th in the country to legalise sports betting since the PASPA annulment by the Supreme Court in 2018. Shmulik Segal, CEO and Co-Founder of Media Troopers, explains why Missouri is well-positioned to build a profitable, sustainable…
The post Show-Me The Money: why Missouri’s sports betting market is built to thrive appeared first on G3 Newswire.