have no legal sportsbooks available to position bets as the 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament tips off today. That will alter for the 2026 tournament.

Though Missouri voters approved legal books on the 2024 ballot, wagerers can't place their first bets up until fall 2025. In the meantime, Show Me State consumers aiming to wager with a legal sportsbook will need to wager in a neighboring state.

Why Missouri won't have legal sportsbooks this March

After years attempting to legislate sports wagering through Missouri's statehouse, proponents including the state's significant professional sports teams and leading national sportsbooks, promoted betting approval by means of a 2024 tally procedure. After surviving a late legal difficulty and eight-figure opposition project, the step passed by a couple of thousand votes out of almost 3 million ballots cast.

Regulators entrusted with carrying out legal sports betting wished for books to go live by summer season 2025. Missouri's Secretary of State postponed that when he denied a petition to accelerate the regulative procedure.

Even in a best-case circumstance, it was unlikely Missouri would have books licensed before March Madness started.

The regulative process includes promoting crucial rules such as financial disclosures, licensure credentials, background checks, event wagering eligibility and a host of other decisions. Each book also needs to be tested individually.

In many of the 30 other states with legal online sports wagering, the time from legal wagering approval to very first wager has actually been around six-to-nine months.

A targeted summer season approval would have been among the United States' quicker turnarounds. The present timeline projects the first books to start in October or November of this year ahead of a legally mandated Dec. 1 go-live date.

Missouri betting options for the 2025 tournament

Missouri bettors going to cross state lines to wager with a legal sportsbook have numerous alternatives.

Missouri's 2 biggest metro locations, St. Louis and Kansas City, border Illinois and Kansas, respectively. Both states have several legal sports wagering alternatives and are a comparatively simple drive (and even walk) from the particular Missouri cities' downtown cores.

Iowa, Kentucky and Tennessee don't share significant population centers however offer many of the exact same major online sportsbook brands. Arkansas enables statewide mobile wagering but just with 3 local brands connected with the state's gambling establishments. Nebraska just allows in-person betting while Oklahoma has no legal sportsbook betting alternatives.

Missourians wanting to bank on the 2025 March Madness might likewise position contracts with exchange wagering platforms such as Kalshi and Robinhood.

Future Missouri sports betting

By 2026, Missouri is set to have approximately a dozen major sportsbooks, many or all expected to be live ahead of that year's Super Bowl and NCAA Tournament.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which combined contributed more than $30 million to the Missouri sports betting tally step, both announced public intentions to release in the state. BetMGM, the nation's No. 3 operator by handle behind the duo, likewise plans to go live in the state.

Caesars, which moneyed the opposition campaign over concerns about licensing access structure, would likewise be positioned to go live. Other live books in surrounding states consisting of BetRivers, ESPN BET, bet365, Fanatics and Hard Rock might likewise be amongst the brand-new operators.

Once live, Missouri sportsbooks will let in-state gamblers position wagers on Show Me State athletic programs consisting of the University of Missouri. This contrasts with Illinois, which restricts gamblers physically situated within its borders to wager on in-state college groups.