Missouri’s launch was “exceptionally strong” and falls in the “upper middle” tier of U.S. sports betting launches, geolocation provider GeoComply told InGame late last week.
Eight platforms went live Dec. 1, and in the first 24 hours, the 2.6 million geolocation checks for operators working with GeoComply indicates that Missouri’s launch kept pace with the next most recent launch, which was in North Carolina, a state that has about 40% more population. GeoComply shared that in its first 48 hours, there were 5.3 million geolocation checks in North Carolina — Missouri had just under half of that in its first 24 hours.
Prior to North Carolina, Kentucky was the next most recent state to go live, and that state recorded 2 million geolocation checks in its market’s first 24 hours.
The strong trend continues for the full first week — GeoComply Monday shared that the company charted 18.5 million geolocation checks in the first seven days, and 520,000 active accounts.
GeoComply provides geolocation services for “the majority” of platforms in Missouri.
Kentucky, with a population of 4.6 million, went live Sept. 28, 2023 with eight online platforms, during Week 4 of the NFL season. Bettors wagered $250 million in the first three weeks. North Carolina (population 11 million), went live March 11, 2024 with eight digital operators just ahead of March Madness. Bettors wagered $200 million in the first week, and $24 million on the launch day, according to the North Carolina Lottery Commission. Missouri’s population is about 6.2 million.
Big day at Arrowhead Stadium
In both Kentucky and North Carolina, bettors had a full buffet of sporting events to choose from almost immediately — Kentucky’s launch was on a Thursday night when the Detroit Lions played the Green Packers, and with a full slate of NFL games that Sunday. North Carolina’s was the week of NCAA basketball conference championships in a state where college basketball dominates the sporting calendar.
As mandated by law, the Missouri Gaming Commission launched betting on Dec. 1, a Monday that featured one NFL game. Missourians’ first chance to bet on the Kansas City Chiefs and a full slate of NFL games was Sunday.
According to GeoComply, more than 10,000 fans at the game or nearby had active accounts, and there were 43,000 geolocation checks.
A look at some other launches
GeoComply also offered some additional comparisons:
- Massachusetts has a population of about 7.1 million people and had 8.1 million geolocation checks in its first 72 hours, an average of 2.7 million per day. Massachusetts launched March 10, 2023, just ahead of Selection Sunday.
- Ohio, population 11.8 million, had 11.3 geolocation checks in its first 48 hours, or an average of 5.7 million per day, which GeoComply referred to as “the gold standard.” Ohio operators launched on New Year’s Day, with a full slate of college football bowl games.
- New York, the most populous state — 20 million — with legal sports betting, had 5.8 million geolocation checks in its first 12 hours. New York regulators launched sports betting Jan. 8, 2022.
bet365: ‘It’s been going really smooth’
bet365 development and strategy executive Trip Stoddard expects in the coming days see hard data from the launch to back up what anecdotally felt like a success.
“From early numbers, I think it was very clear that the entire state had some pent-up demand,” he said. “They were really waiting for it, and from tech issues or from any regulatory issues, or licensing issues, we’ve had [no problems]. So it’s been going really smooth.”
bet365 is partnered with the St. Louis Cardinals for market access.
“I think we were really fortunate that the St. Louis Cardinals business team helped us understand the customer, helped us understand favorite team players, what type of promotions people are going to expect and what are they going to like,” Stoddard said.
Brant James contributed to this report
