It has been seven years since the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on sports betting with its decision in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Since then, the trickle of states that have legalized sports gambling has grown into a waterfall.
Currently, 40 states and the District of Columbia have legalized sports betting.
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While sports betting companies like FanDuel and DraftKings don’t disclose figures on betting distributions across different sports, data from individual states suggests that football is the biggest driver.
The NFL is the “end-all, be-all” of U.S. sports gambling, according to Ryan Butler, a senior analyst at Covers.com.
But September isn’t “busy season” just because of NFL football. College football also generates big sports handles and increased activity.
“At least $20 billion will be wagered on football between now and the end of the year, plus a similar amount rolled up into the parlays that have become so popular among casual bettors,” according to Legal Sports Report.
A new sports betting partnership is coming to Missouri.
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Missouri joins sports gambling craze
Last year, Missourians attempted to place more than $11 million in bets between the start of the football season and the end of October, according to media reports. The problem was that Missouri didn’t officially legalize sports betting until November, and the program still hasn’t gone live.
So the demand is clearly present.
That’s good news for Fanatics, which just announced a new sports betting partnership in the Show-Me state.
Missouri sports betting doesn’t officially come online until December 1.
Fanatics joins the sports betting fray in Missouri
On Monday, sports apparel and merchandise company Fanatics announced that Fanatics Betting and Games is teaming up with Boyd Gaming Corp. for a sports betting venture in Missouri.
Missouri will become the 39th state with legal sports betting and the 31st with online sports betting when it comes online later this year.
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In addition to an online presence, Fanatics will also have a brick-and-mortar presence in the state at Ameristar casinos in Kansas City and St. Charles.
Earlier this year, Boyd announced that it was selling its 5% stake in FanDuel back to its parent company, Flutter, for $1.8 billion.
Fanatics is one of the top five brands nationally, according to Legal Sports Report, and this is the first time it has partnered with Boyd Gaming.
There are 14 sports betting licenses up for grabs in Missouri, and the Fanatics/Boyd Gaming partnership represents the sixth.
Earlier this month, Missouri also granted licenses to DraftKings and Circa. FanDuel, Bet 365, and BetMGM also have licenses through deals with local sports teams and casinos.
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