Missouri degenerates wagered $543,039,131 in December 2025—the state's first month of legal sports betting. The state of Missouri received $521,200 in tax revenue from that half-billion in action. Read that again. $543 million in bets. $521 thousand to the state. That's not a rounding error. That's the sportsbook industry doing what it does best: lighting money on fire to grab market share.

The Quick Hit

• What happened: Missouri's first month of legal sports betting generated $543M in handle
• The damage: State received only $521,200 in tax revenue; adjusted gross revenue was NEGATIVE $20.7 million
• Why you should care: Sportsbooks gave away $125 million in free bets and promos, wiping out all taxable revenue
• The move: If you're in Missouri, take every damn free bet they throw at you. This won't last.

How $543 Million Becomes $521 Thousand

The math is simple and infuriating if you're a Missouri taxpayer. Here's what happened:

Eight online sportsbooks launched in December: DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, bet365, Fanatics, Caesars, theScore Bet, and Circa. All eight immediately started carpet-bombing the state with promotional offers. Sign-up bonuses. Free bets. Deposit matches. "Bet $5, get $200 in bonus bets" deals plastered on every billboard from Kansas City to St. Louis.

The 16 licensed operators combined to give away over $125 million in free bets and promotional credits. One hundred and twenty-five million dollars in the first month. That promotional spending gets deducted from gross gaming revenue before taxes are calculated. When you subtract $125 million in promos from the actual hold, the overall adjusted gross revenue for the state was negative $20,758,443.

Negative. The sportsbooks collectively lost money in Missouri in December. And when adjusted gross revenue is negative, there's almost nothing to tax.

The DraftKings Special

DraftKings alone tells the whole story. They took in $195 million in bets and paid out $163 million in winnings—a perfectly healthy hold percentage. But then they wrote off $48.5 million in promotional credits, which blew their taxable revenue to smithereens. DraftKings paid zero state tax in December and carried $16 million in deduction credits into January, meaning they probably won't pay much in January either.

FanDuel wasn't far behind, writing off over $53 million in free-play wagers. Every major operator played the same game: spend absurd amounts on customer acquisition, deduct it from revenue, pay nothing in taxes. Legal? Completely. Expected? Absolutely. Infuriating to state officials who projected sports betting would fund education and infrastructure? You bet your ass.

The Land Grab Playbook

This is the exact same playbook DraftKings and FanDuel have run in every new state. Flood the market with promotions. Acquire customers at a loss. Establish market dominance. Then slowly pull back the promos once everyone is locked into your app and your ecosystem.

It works every single time. New Jersey went through it. New York went through it. Ohio went through it. Now Missouri is going through it. The state officials who act surprised by this have apparently never looked at what happened in the 38 states that legalized before them.

"That is going to change," Missouri officials told reporters when asked about the paltry tax revenue. And they're right—it will. Once the promotional war dies down in six to twelve months, the operators will start posting positive adjusted gross revenue, and the tax dollars will flow. But the first year is always ugly, and anyone who told Missouri voters otherwise was selling something.

What This Means for Bettors

If you live in Missouri, right now is the golden age. Every sportsbook is desperate for your business. They're handing out free money like parade candy. Take the DraftKings sign-up bonus. Take the FanDuel deposit match. Take the BetMGM free bet. Take all of them. Open accounts everywhere. Play through the promotional requirements. Extract every dollar of value you can before the free-bet faucet gets turned off.

This window closes. It always closes. Within a year, you'll be getting 10% profit boosts instead of $200 in free bets. Enjoy it while it lasts.

The Bigger Picture

Missouri's experience also raises the question that nobody in the industry wants to answer honestly: is sports betting actually good for states, or is it mostly good for the operators? When sportsbooks can deduct promotional spending from gross revenue—effectively zeroing out their tax bill—the states become junior partners in their own gambling markets.

Meanwhile, Las Vegas itself saw strip revenue decline in 2025 as mobile betting continues pulling handle away from brick-and-mortar casinos. The money is moving, and it's moving toward the apps.

The Bottom Line

Missouri bet over half a billion dollars in its first month and the state barely got enough tax revenue to pave a parking lot. The sportsbooks are playing the long game—burn cash now, dominate later, profit forever. It's a playbook older than poker itself, and it works every time. Missouri officials will get their tax revenue eventually. But December was a reminder that in the sports betting industry, the house always wins—and sometimes the house isn't the state.