Online Casinos in Missouri

Missouri Licenses Casinos, Not Online Casinos

Missouri's criminal code starts from a prohibition: "572.020. Gambling — penalty. — 1. A person commits the offense of gambling if he or she knowingly engages in gambling." Running the activity is a felony: "2. The offense of promoting gambling in the first degree is a class E felony." The definition of gambling then carves out one thing, and it is the state's riverboat casino scheme: "Gambling does not include any licensed activity, or persons participating in such games which are covered by sections 313.800 to 313.840".

Those sections are about boats. A gambling game is defined as "(13) "Gambling game" includes, but is not limited to, games of skill or games of chance on an excursion gambling boat but does not include gambling on sporting events; provided such games of chance are approved by amendment to the Missouri Constitution;", and an "(9) "Excursion gambling boat" , a boat, ferry, other floating facility, or any nonfloating facility licensed by the commission on or inside of which gambling games are allowed;". The exemption is tied to a licensed venue, so an online casino falls outside it. Missouri licenses no online casino, and this site does not point readers at operators that are not licensed where they are.

Online Sports Betting Is Licensed, Online Casino Is Not

Missouri is a recent and unusually clear example of the two verticals parting company, because sports wagering arrived by constitutional amendment rather than by extending the casino law. Article III Section 39(g) of the Missouri Constitution provides that "2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, any entity licensed by the Commission pursuant to Article III, Section 39(g) may offer sports wagering:" and then lists the ways, the first of which is "a. through an online sports wagering platform to individuals physically located in this state;". The licensing structure distinguishes retail from mobile: "b. The Commission shall issue not more than one mobile license to operate sports wagering in this state to each qualified applicant that is:" an excursion boat owner or a professional sports team, and "c. The Commission shall issue not more than two mobile licenses to operate sports wagering in this state directly to qualified applicants that are sports wagering operators." The regulator records the start of the market on its own site: "On December 1, 2025, at 12:00 a.m., sports wagering became available in Missouri."

Nothing in that amendment touches casino games. The gambling game definition in chapter 313 says in terms that it "does not include gambling on sporting events", and the constitutional amendment runs the other way, covering sports wagering alone. A reader using a licensed Missouri betting app should not infer that online slots or table games are licensed there, because they are not.

Sweepstakes Casinos: Why No Status Is Recorded

No Missouri statute, rule or official opinion read for this page addresses dual-currency online sweepstakes casinos, so no sweepstakes status is recorded rather than one being inferred. The only constitutional provision using the word concerns charities: "Any organization recognized as charitable or religious pursuant to federal law may sponsor raffles and sweepstakes in which a person risks something of value for a prize." That is a permission for charitable raffles, not a statement about commercial online products, and reading it either way would be the inference the research contract forbids. Separately, Missouri's definition of a lottery is "(7) "Lottery" or "policy" , an unlawful gambling scheme in which for a consideration the participants are given an opportunity to win something of value, the award of which is determined by chance;", which turns on consideration.

Sweepstakes casinos and real-money casinos are separate products and neither is presented here as a licensed version of the other.

Who Regulates, and the Minimum Age

One body covers both licensed verticals. "1. There is hereby created the "Missouri Gaming Commission" consisting of five members appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the senate.", and its statutory remit is that "The commission shall perform all duties and have all the powers and responsibilities conferred and imposed upon it relating to excursion gambling boats and, after June 30, 1994, the lawful operation of the game of bingo under this chapter." The 2024 amendment added sports wagering licensing to that work.

The minimum age is 21 for both. For casinos, "4. A person under twenty-one years of age shall not make a wager on an excursion gambling boat and shall not be allowed in the area of the excursion boat where gambling is being conducted". For sports wagering, "3. A licensee shall not offer sports wagering to individuals who are under twenty-one years of age."