Missouri: status at a glance
| Online casino | Not authorized |
|---|---|
| Sports betting | Online and retail |
| Online poker | Not authorized |
| Sweepstakes casinos | No ban found in our sources |
Two different answers inside one state
Missouri is a split case. Sports wagering moved from illegal to licensed in a little over a year, while casino-style games stayed where they were: allowed on licensed riverboat casinos and nowhere online. The answer depends on the product.
Sweepstakes casinos are a third category. They carry no Missouri license of any kind, and the tracker data used for this site lists no Missouri statute written against them.
The Gaming Commission and what it oversees
The regulator is the Missouri Gaming Commission. Section 313.004 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri creates it: five members appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate, all residents of the state, no more than three from the same political party, none an elected official. The statute assigns the commission to the Department of Public Safety, and it also says the department's director has no supervision, authority or control over the commission's actions or decisions.
The statute spells out the original job as the regulation of excursion gambling boats and, from mid-1994, bingo. The same section also contemplates the commission taking on other forms of gaming when a law places them under its jurisdiction, the kind of provision under which sports wagering could come to the commission after voters acted.
The Commission's own website did not answer our client (a certificate error on the host), so figures about operators, handle and tax come from trade press only and are left out here.
Casino gambling: boats, not browsers
Chapter 313 contains the rules for licensed excursion gambling boats. Section 313.817 sets a clear boundary: the licensee may receive wagers only from a person present on a licensed excursion gambling boat. A person under twenty-one may not wager on a boat or be in the gambling area, and no one under twenty-one may work as a dealer or accept a wager. A home dock city or county can set a stricter entry age by ordinance.
That on-site rule is why there is no online casino market. A licensee that took wagers by internet would be accepting them from people who are not on the boat, which the statute does not permit. Industry trackers list no online casino license in Missouri.
Sports wagering since December 2025
Trade press reports that voters approved sports wagering in a constitutional amendment on November 5, 2024, by a margin of under three thousand votes, and that licensed sportsbooks, retail and online, began taking bets on December 1, 2025. Those are secondary reports and not primary records, so the details are worth confirming on the Commission's site. Reports also describe the Commission awarding temporary licenses to a group of operators in October 2025 ahead of that date.
For a resident, the practical meaning is that placing a sports bet with a licensed operator inside Missouri is lawful, and the same operator's casino-style games are not offered here. State comparisons are collected on sports betting by state.
Poker
No Missouri license for online poker is listed. Poker played in person at licensed casinos falls under the same chapter 313 rules as other gambling games on a boat. The states that do license online poker are on online poker by state.
Sweepstakes casinos and offshore sites
No Missouri statute or regulator action against sweepstakes casinos appears in the data used for this site, so the state sits in the group without a ban. That is an absence of a rule and not a license: the operators hold nothing from the Gaming Commission. The federal and state picture, including which states have banned them, is on are sweepstakes casinos legal and states that ban sweepstakes casinos.
Offshore casino sites may carry licenses from foreign authorities. A foreign license is issued under another country's law and gives a site no standing in Missouri. See offshore casinos.
Help
The national helpline is 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738). Tools such as self-exclusion and spending limits are described on responsible gambling.
Frequently asked questions
Is online sports betting legal in Missouri?
Yes, with a licensed operator. Trade press reports that licensed betting began on December 1, 2025, after voters approved a constitutional amendment in November 2024.
Can I play online casino games in Missouri?
There is no Missouri license for them. State law lets licensed casino boats take wagers only from people on the boat.
Do I have to be 21?
Section 313.817 sets twenty-one as the minimum age to wager on an excursion gambling boat. The age for sports wagering is set in the Commission's rules, which we could not read.
Are sweepstakes casinos legal in Missouri?
No Missouri license covers them and no state ban appears in our data. They are unlicensed products in Missouri.