Missouri Sports Betting Could Reap Surprise Benefits from New Illinois State Bill

The state of Illinois is implementing a new tax on sports wagering, and it could wind up being a boom for Missouri sports betting.

To be sure, this will not be an immediate windfall for The Show-Me State. The launch date for sports betting in Missouri is scheduled for December 1, 2025. They will not be able to reap any real benefits until that time. And even then, it may take a few months, if not a year, to understand how much business they’re poaching from The Prairie State.

Still, this is a pretty huge development in general. But it’s especially big for a fledgling sports betting market like Missouri. In a way, it could also balance the scales of a dynamic that has seen Illinois capitalize on the absence of sports betting in The Show-Me State for all of these years.

New Illinois Tax Could Increase Cost of Transactions for Sports Bettors

Here is Matthew Waters of Legal Sports Report with the full lowdown on the new tax that will impact sports betting in Illinois:

“The 2026 Illinois fiscal budget passed over the weekend with a surprise for sportsbooks hitting at the last minute. The budget calls for a 25-cent tax on the first 20 million bets taken per operator annually. That tax doubles to 50 cents for every bet beyond 20 million. Only two sportsbooks eclipsed the 20 million bet mark: DraftKings and FanDuel. This comes a year after the state shifted to a scaled tax rate that goes as high as 40 percent compared to the previous 15 percent  rate the market launched within 2020.”

Implementations like this always risk passing on additional costs to the consumer. Though DraftKings and FanDuel have apparently already taken steps to “offset their increased costs,” increases in overhead often lead to more expensive transaction fees for the consumer. 

Now, as Waters notes, DraftKings and FanDuel were the only online sports betting sites in Illinois to eclipse 20 million wagers during the last calendar year. Bettors could simply head elsewhere if it becomes too expensive to wager with them, or if the two operators shift their market offerings in a way that impacts potential returns.

But this feels like farfetched thinking. DraftKings and FanDuel are too ubiquitous when it comes to online sports betting in the United States. Just look at the start of 2025. In January, as one example, online sportsbooks in Illinois accepted almost $1.5 billion of total bets. DraftKings and FanDuel alone totaled more than $1 billion of this business. That comes out to basically 70 percent of the entire Illinois online sports betting handle.

Here is How the New Illinois Tax Can Benefit Missouri Sports Betting

So while venturing to other sites is an option, it’s not entirely realistic. Plus, if the volume goes up at places like Fanatics Sportsbook, BetRivers, BetMGM, etc., they will be subject to the same fees as DraftKings and Competitors.

This brings us to the Missouri sports betting element. As Waters writes, FanDuel and DraftKings could start nudging customers toward betting on sports in bordering states like Missouri:

“DraftKings and FanDuel have already made changes in Illinois to help offset their increased costs and could incentivize players to head out of Illinois into one of the better tax environments on its borders. That includes Iowa, Kentucky and Ohio, with Ohio’s 20 percent tax rate being the most expensive. Once December rolls around, Missouri and its 10 percent tax rate will be an option to send bettors who live along Illinois’ western border. That includes Greater St. Louis, the 23rd-largest metropolitan area in the country. DraftKings could benefit more than FanDuel because of the original Illinois law that required in-person registration. DraftKings partnered with Casino Queen in East St. Louis, a stone’s throw from downtown St. Louis.”

Though this is a weird business model, it’s not that hard to implement. 

FanDuel and DraftKings can offer special offers to anyone placing wagers from inside the Missouri sports betting market. This not only invites Illinois to drive business across state lines, but it could theoretically bump up the sports betting volume among Missourians themselves. 

Are Missouri and Illinois Switching Places in the Sports Betting Pecking Order?

Once more: It is entirely too early to see how this Illinois tax impacts Missouri sports betting trends and habits. But we can at least safely say The Show-Me State only stands to benefit from The Prairie State’s gaming laws. 

This represents a turning of the tables, so to speak. For years, Missourians have crossed into the Illinois sports betting markets to place their wagers. Heck, it’s happening right now. And it will continue to happen through most of the 2025 NFL regular season, since Missouri sports betting doesn’t launch until December 1.

After that, though, the flow of extra business could completely reverse. Of course, it’s likely on the sportsbooks to make that happen. Consumers will not go out of their way to spare large companies from paying extra taxes unless it helps them. Illinois sportsbooks could make it cheaper to place bets out of state, but that’s not so much an incentive as negative reinforcement.

However, if they offer special bonuses and gambling lines to anyone in the Missouri sports betting market? Now that’s a different story. 

Take a look at this list of the top online sportsbooks so you can find one that works for all of your sports betting needs: