As the state legislature begins another attempt to get Missouri sportsbooks across the finish line, the state’s casinos experienced a slight revenue dip in the first month of 2023.
The total adjusted gross revenue for Missouri’s 13 casinos in January was $153,710,474, a 2.5% decrease in a month-over-month comparison with December’s $157,680,102.
In a year-over-year comparison, last month’s revenue was 5.7% higher than January 2022, when it was about $145.5 million.
The month’s gaming proceeds to education amounted to $29,051,280.
Missouri Casino Breakdown For January
The casinos in the St. Louis market always lead the state and that was the case again in January.
Ameristar Casino St. Charles topped the list again in January with $24.4 million of adjusted gross revenue, a 3.6% decline from the $25.3 million in the December Missouri casino revenue report.
In all, the St. Louis market’s four casinos accounted for $75.9 million in revenue, about half of the state’s total. River City had $20.67 million in revenue for the first month of 2023 and Hollywood Casino reported $18.9 million.
The four Kansas City area casinos combined for about $55.1 million in January revenue, according to the Missouri Gaming Commission. That contingent was led by Ameristar Kansas City at $15.65 million, followed by Argosy at about $14.5 million.
Isle of Capri Casino in Boonville led the five “out-state” casinos at $7.2 million in revenue for the month.
Sports Betting Efforts Launched Again
In February, two bills that would legalize sports wagering in Missouri were proposed in the state legislature.
Republican House Reps. Dan Houx and Phil Christofanelli have each introduced bills which would make mobile sports betting a reality in the Show Me State, as well as wagers placed at retail locations.
There have been public hearings on the bills, HB 556 (from Houx) and HB 581 (from Christofanelli), and they have been referred to the Emerging Issue Committee. At the public hearing, representatives from all of the professional sports teams based in Missouri spoke in favor of the proposal.
Geolocation Data From Super Bowl as Chiefs Win
The timing of the legislation could not be better, with sports fans statewide beaming in the glow of the new NFL champion Kansas City Chiefs, who defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 on Sunday in Super Bowl 57.
That game, at State Fam Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, was the first Super Bowl held in a state that had legal sports betting. It was also the first in which one participating team hailed from a state that had legal, regulated wagering on sports — Pennsylvania has had sports betting (and online casino for that matter) since 2018.
The Chiefs, of course, play in a border city, and just on the other side of the Kansas-Missouri line, fans could wager on the Super Bowl at online and retail Kansas sportsbooks. Similarly, fans on the other end of the state in St. Louis can easily cross east into Illinois to place an online wager. Three other states bordering Missouri — Tennessee, Iowa and Arkansas — also offer online sports betting.
Geolocation firm GeoComply, which tracks and confirms that sportsbook customers are physically in a legal betting state — and blocks attempts from outside of those states to participate in online sports wagering — released figures from the Super Bowl on Monday.
According to GeoComply, more than 2.7 million geolocation transactions took place on Sunday in Kansas, from more than 180,000 unique accounts. GeoComply also said that it blocked more than 250,000 attempts from Missouri to bet on the Super Bowl.
