Team mascots for the Kansas City Royals, from left, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Blues and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Cardinals stack boxes at a news conference on Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Jefferson City to announce the delivery of signatures to state officials in an initiative-petition effort to place sports betting on the November ballot in Missouri.
JEFFERSON CITY — Missourians hoping to legally bet on sporting events will have to wait longer after Secretary of State Denny Hoskins slammed the brakes on the rulemaking process.
Hoskins, a Republican who carried numerous gambling expansion bills during his tenure in the Senate, rejected a plan last week to put rules for sports betting on a fast track, requiring the Missouri Gaming Commission to push back its anticipated start date until later this fall.
The delay will mean most of a lost season of betting on the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Cardinals, which supports the expansion because it will create additional revenue for the team.
But it could mean Missourians can bet on National Football League games that begin in the fall.
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“In the absence of emergency rules, our timeline is being pushed back months. The Commission will proceed with our proposed licensing rules that were filed at the same time and will become effective August 30, 2025,†gaming commission spokeswoman Elizabeth Hoffman said in a statement Monday.
Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg.
“We’re still going forward full steam ahead,†added gaming commission executive director Mike Leara.
The delay comes after Missouri voters narrowly voiced their support for legalizing sports betting in November following a record-setting spending by sports betting companies and the state’s professional sports teams.
Although the constitutional amendment legalizing the practice took effect with the approval of the ballot question, regulators first must draft rules and take applications from sportsbooks.
Under the plan, the gaming commission will issue licenses for in-person sports wagering at the state’s 13 existing casinos and a location in a district near a major professional sports arena such as Busch Stadium.
The major sports teams also would be allowed to license a branded online platform. There will be two online-only licenses, presumably held by companies such as FanDuel.
The commission had been working to launch sports betting by June before Hoskins’ intervention.
In stopping the emergency rules process, Hoskins said the proposed rules could still proceed through the standard rulemaking process, which includes opportunities for public input.
Hoskins has been in the middle of the gambling expansion debate before.
He attempted to pass legislation that would regulate and tax the video gambling machines seen in gas stations and bars by tying it to the sports betting question but failed to garner support amid pushback by companies like Torch Electronics of Wildwood.
With sports betting approved, lawmakers are considering a standalone measure that would regulate the slot machines.
A total of 38 states and Washington, D.C., already , which has expanded rapidly since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018.
Hoffman said despite the delay, the commission will “continue working to ensure we meet the constitutionally required start date of sports wagering not later than 1 December 2025.â€
Post-Dispatch photographers capture hundreds of thousands of images each year. Take a look at some from January 2025. Video edited by Jenna Jones.
