After losing out on an untethered Missouri sports betting license Friday morning, FanDuel wasted little time in securing access in the next state to launch. The online giant announced a partnership with St. Louis City SC just hours later.
Upon approval from the Missouri Gaming Commission, FanDuel will have its online sports betting app available in 25 states.
“Missouri is home to some of the most passionate sports fans in the country, and we are thrilled to partner with St. Louis City SC to introduce our industry leading product to the Show Me State,” Mike Raffensperger, FanDuel president of sports, said in a statement. “We look forward to supporting the team and engaging with the community as we bring America’s #1 Sportsbook to fans across Missouri.”
St. Louis City SC, sometimes stylized as St. Louis CITY, is a third-year team in Major League Soccer. The club made the playoffs in its inaugural season, 2023.
Why FanDuel Needs A Sports Betting Partner in Missouri
On Friday, the MGC voted to approve its only two untethered licenses for DraftKings and Circa Sports. So any other operator, including FanDuel, needed a partnership to gain access into the Show-Me State. DraftKings was expected to get one of the two exclusive licenses, which meant the Boston-based operator did not need to partner with an in-state casino or a major professional sports team to offer its product in Missouri.
Many in the industry expected the second untethered license to go to FanDuel, especially since it and DraftKings funded the constitutional amendment campaign last year that legalized sports betting. Instead, Las Vegas-based Circa received the other untethered license in a brief MGC meeting held Friday morning.
Commissioners did not explain their rationale for the awards.
Representatives from FanDuel, a Flutter Entertainment brand, were on hand in Jefferson City last Wednesday – along with DraftKings and Circa officials – to make pitches for the untethered licenses. During its presentation, FanDuel executives told the commission their online sports betting app has an average annual customer base of 7 million. The operator said 3.1 million people use the app at least monthly in its American markets – including Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. – and Ontario in Canada.
Missouri sports betting apps are scheduled to go live by Dec. 1, a stipulation in the voter-approved constitutional amendment. If a sportsbook wants to begin taking bets on the launch date, then it must submit its application for a tethered license by Sept. 12. Since FanDuel filed for an untethered one, the company will only need to amend that application, include updated documents and partnership information.
FanDuel Already Popular In Missouri
Based on its success in other markets, FanDuel is expected to be one of the top two operators in Missouri, pending the commission’s approval for a license.
BetMissouri commissioned a survey this year, polling adults across the state about their interest in sports betting. When asked which sportsbooks they planned to register with once Missouri sports betting went live, 14.4% of the nearly 1,000 questioned said they would sign up with FanDuel. Of the sportsbooks mentioned, only DraftKings (17.3%) received a higher response rate.
The people polled were allowed to pick more than one operator.
A major reason why FanDuel and DraftKings have become the top national operators in recent years is tied to their presence as a daily fantasy sports provider across the country, well before legal sportsbooks began proliferating nationwide. Those two operators have leveraged their existing customer bases in each state to claim roughly three-quarters of the market in the states where both are licensed.
BetMissouri will continue to monitor the developments in the state as the sports betting launch date draws closer. We will offer up-to-date reviews of approved apps and provide information on Missouri sportsbook bonuses when they become available.
USA Today photo by Scott Rovak
