BetRivers is the latest national sportsbook reaffirming interest in Missouri sports betting – and, potentially, online casinos.
Executives from BetRivers’ parent company Rush Street Interactive said during a webinar Monday they were excited about the potential for Missouri’s online gaming future. Missouri’s population and existing brick-and-mortar casino infrastructure make it an exciting potential expansion target, said Rush Street CEO Richard Schwartz during Monday’s Needham Consumer Tech and Ecommerce Virtual Conference.
“It's a large population and one that we think is an attractive market as well for other reasons, we were glad it passed,” Schwartz said.
Missouri sports betting passes narrowly
Missouri became the 31st state to approve statewide mobile sports wagering, doing so by the narrowest margin of any U.S. sports betting referendum. Ahead of final certification next month, the measure was set to pass by only a few thousand votes out of nearly three million cast.
The margin was still enough to bring legal sports betting to the Show Me State. Mobile sportsbooks are soon to follow.
“I thought perhaps it would have been a little bit of a wider margin,” Schwartz said. “But it's good for the industry that it did pass.”
Schwartz’s comments reaffirm Chicago-based BetRivers’ interest in one of the more than a dozen potentially available Missouri mobile sports betting licenses. BetRivers' mobile sportsbook is live in 15 states, including Missouri neighbors Illinois and Iowa.
To enter the state, BetRivers will likely have to partner with an existing professional sports team or casino, but there will be plenty of avenues for licensure.
Missouri’s six major professional sports teams will all be able to launch a sportsbook in partnership with an online operator. Though several teams already have sponsorships or other partnerships with competing sportsbooks, there remains multiple avenues for a national player like BetRivers.
The sportsbooks can also open retail offerings within or adjacent to their partner team’s home stadium, another potential attractive offering for a smaller national player such as Rush Street.
Another route to market access is to partner with one of the state’s six casino operators, but that seems less likely. Four of the operating companies – Caesars, Penn Entertainment, Bally’s and Boyd – already have their own sportsbooks and seem unlikely to partner with a competitor. It’s unclear if the state's other two operating companies, Century Casinos and Affinity Gaming, would seek such a deal.
The enabling sports betting legislation allows two “untethered” licenses for companies that don’t have to partner with a sports team or casino. These are projected to go to FanDuel and DraftKings, the U.S. nationwide market share leaders that combined to spend more than $40 million to support the enabling ballot measure.
Other sportsbooks likely to pursue market access including BetMGM, Fanatics, and Underdog. Additional national brands such as Hard Rock and bet365 could also be potentially interested.
Online casino future
Sportsbooks could be further interested if Schwartz’s hopes for legal online casino gaming are enacted in Missouri.
Missouri’s six casino operators and their progressive stance on online casino gaming could bode well for legalization in the future, Schwartz said. Online slots and table games generate significantly more revenue than online sports betting; in states with both offerings these games contribute three times as much in taxes than sportsbooks.
Despite the potential for both sportsbooks and state coffers, Legalization would not come easily.
"We really like that state" - Rush Street Interactive CEO Richard Schwartz said today about Missouri; he said because of its existing land-based casino industry it is also a leading potential future iCasino state, even despite the narrow margin of sports betting approval
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) November 25, 2024
The Republican-controlled legislature is unlikely to take up an iCasino bill in the coming years. Proponents could try for an iGaming constitutional amendment for the 2026 ballot, but the narrow margin for Missouri sports betting could underscore the difficulty for gambling expansion in an increasingly politically and socially conservative state.
The potential in Missouri, one of the nation’s 20-most populated states, still makes this an intriguing potential future market.
Only four states have competitive online casino gaming offerings. Three more have limited markets, including Delaware, where Rush Street is the only legal operator.
Even the prospect of Missouri iCasino legalization in the coming years could increase interest from sportsbooks. Potential iCasino legalization, along with the state's large population, popular sports teams and an overall favorable business environment, add to what is shaping up to be one of the more lucrative per capita sports betting states.
