Missouri Sports Betting Through April 2026: $1.81B Handle, Tax Receipts Jump


Through April 2026, Missouri sportsbooks have processed $1.81B in handle and 73.7M individual bets. April produced the largest single-month tax total to date — $2.03M — as negative AGR carry-forwards from launch month wind down.

Through April 30, 2026, Missouri’s five-month-old sports betting market has processed $1.81 billion in handle and 73.7 million individual bets, according to the Missouri Gaming Commission’s fiscal year-to-date statistical report. April alone produced $2.03 million in state sports wagering tax — the largest single-month total since the December 1, 2025 launch and roughly half of the cumulative tax revenue collected over the prior four months combined.

Month-by-month figures

Per the Missouri Gaming Commission’s fiscal year-to-date statistical report (reported May 15, 2026):

MonthHandleTaxable AGRTax (10%)
December 2025$543.0 million($20.76 million)$521,324
January 2026$385.1 million($6.91 million)$137,873
February 2026$277.0 million$10.30 million$1,214,627
March 2026$329.4 million$20.76 million$2,178,984
April 2026$273.4 million$20.28 million$2,028,427
FYTD total$1,807.9 million$23.88 million$6,081,235

December and January taxable AGR figures were negative because operator promotional spending exceeded gross sports wagering revenue. Those negative balances carry forward against future months under Missouri’s accounting rules, which is why state tax receipts did not begin meaningful contributions until February.

Why April matters

April was the inflection month for state revenue. Two reasons:

1. Negative AGR carry-forwards are mostly exhausted. DraftKings and FanDuel — the two largest operators — both had negative AGR through January that needed to be cleared before any tax was owed. By March, both were paying. By April, both had cleared their carry-balances entirely.

2. bet365 turned its first taxable month. bet365’s January and February both posted negative AGR (a function of promotional spend tied to its $150 no-win-required welcome bonus). The carry-forward exhausted in March, and April 2026 was the first month bet365 contributed $111,361 to state tax receipts.

Fanatics Mobile remains the outlier. After four months of negative AGR (-$1.86M in December alone), the carry-forward was finally cleared in April and Fanatics paid $46,509 in state tax for the month — its first taxable contribution since launch.

April 2026 operator breakdown

For mobile operators in April 2026, by total handle:

OperatorHandleTaxable AGRTax
DraftKings$102.5 million$9.72 million$971,959
FanDuel$88.5 million$6.75 million$675,303
Fanatics Mobile$22.9 million$465,091$46,509
bet365$22.2 million$1.11 million$111,361
BetMGM$18.1 million$834,634$83,463
Caesars Mobile$9.08 million$711,115$71,111
Penn Sports Interactive (theScore Bet)$5.01 million$243,760$24,376
Circa Sports$1.59 million$107,375$10,737

Retail sportsbooks contributed another $3.51 million in handle and $33,606 in tax across eight locations.

What’s changed since the tax-hike debate

In late April, the Missouri General Assembly removed the proposed sports betting tax increase from HB 3533 — a debate centered on the belief that promotional deductions were keeping state tax revenue artificially low. (Read our coverage of the HB 3533 hearing.)

The April data released two weeks after that hearing complicates that argument. With carry-forwards exhausted, the existing 10% rate is starting to produce the kind of revenue that proponents promised — without the tax-rate change opponents had argued would require returning to voters.

If April’s pace continues, Missouri’s fiscal year tax revenue would land around $50-60 million annually — well above the $30-40 million range opponents had projected during the 2024 Amendment 2 campaign, though still below the $100 million proponents had suggested.

What’s ahead

Two factors will shape the next several months:

  • NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals in June will draw heavier handle than April’s MLB-and-NBA-playoffs mix.
  • MLB summer historically sees steady handle but lower hold percentages than NFL season — meaning revenue growth may lag handle growth through summer.
  • NFL preseason in August begins the September football peak. NFL months historically produce the largest tax revenues by a wide margin.

For the official MGC monthly reports, see mgc.dps.mo.gov.