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The Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC) has awarded 22 temporary sports betting licenses to a group of online operators, retail operators, and sports betting suppliers. MGC Public Relations Officer Elizabeth Hoffman confirmed with PlayUSA that the licenses were awarded on Wednesday evening.
The temporary licenses are part of a planned rollout for Missouri sports betting that began earlier this year when the application window opened.
Inside Missouri’s first round of sports betting licenses
The 22 licensees include nine online sports wagering operators, eight retail operators, and five suppliers:
Top online sportsbooks earn temporary Missouri licenses
The nine operators that earned temporary licenses to become legal Missouri sports betting apps are:
- bet365
- BetMGM
- Caesars
- Circa Sports
- DraftKings
- Fanatics
- FanDuel
- Penn Sports
- Underdog
There are no surprises here, as all companies that applied for online sports betting licenses earned them. The operators fall into two categories: untethered and tethered. Untethered licenses allow operators to run an online sportsbook in Missouri without partnering with an existing Missouri casino or professional sports team, while tethered licenses require a partnership. State regulations allow for two untethered licenses.
Earlier this year, Circa Sports, DraftKings, and FanDuel applied for an untethered license. The MGC announced in August in awarded the untethered licenses to Circa Sports and DraftKings.
Missouri casinos gear up for in-person sports betting
The eight entities that earned temporary retail sports wagering licenses are:
- Fanatics Ameristar Kansas City
- Fanatics Ameristar St. Charles
- Harrah’s KC
- Horseshoes St. Louis
- Hollywood Casino St. Louis
- River City Casino
- Argosy Riverside
- Century Casino Cape Girardeau
Tech and data suppliers powering Missouri’s betting infrastructure
The MGC’s five temporary supplier licensees are:
- Gaming Laboratories International (GLI): A testing and certification firm that will likely play a role in ensuring compliance for online and in-person sports wagering platforms.
- Catalist Sports: A sports content provider specializing in basketball, hockey, soccer, and tennis.
- GeoComply: A security and geolocation firm that helps mobile sportsbook platforms ensure all wagers on Missouri sports betting apps take place within state lines.
- SportsContentCo: A provider of live streams, sports data, and content for sportsbooks.
- GDC America: A marketing and sports data services company.
Next stop: Missouri’s December sports betting launch
The temporary licenses allow sportsbooks to continue preparing for Missouri’s Dec. 1 launch date. The highly anticipated debut follows years of contentious debate among lawmakers over sports betting legalization — disputes made more intense by the fact that seven of Missouri’s eight neighboring states have already legalized one form of sports betting.
The next key date in the state’s sports betting timeline is Nov. 17, when Missourians will be able to sign up for online sportsbook accounts and make deposits ahead of the official launch for legal online Missouri gambling.
