Underdog Partners With Kansas City Royals For Missouri Market Access
Earlier this week, Underdog locked in its Missouri market access partner by announcing a partnership with the Kansas City Royals. With the partnership, Underdog has a tethered partner required for a license from the Missouri Gaming Commission ahead of the December 1 launch.
Underdog-Royals Evolving Partnership
This market access partnership is an evolution of an ongoing relationship between the two. Underdog has been a longtime sponsor of in-stadium events like “Bark at the Park”. This new partnership effectively codifies the two’s commitment to continue working together.
The partnership is a win-win for both parties. For Underdog, it will gain access to the newest US market to go live. The Missouri market is roughly the same size as Maryland, which generated $635 million in gross revenues for sportsbooks in 2024.
For the Kansas City Royals, the deal allows them to gain access to those gross revenues. Any market access partnership deal requires revenue sharing.
Underdog Growth
Underdog has grown from its humble sports fantasy beginnings. The company’s daily fantasy offerings are available in all but a handful of states. With a license in Missouri, the company will soon be able to offer a sportsbook product in four states: Colorado, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio.
Their Ohio license may come under scrutiny after the Ohio Casino Control Commission told all its licensed sports gambling entities that ties to prediction markets could result in the loss of their license. Earlier this month, Underdog decided to offer sports event contracts from prediction market operator Crypto.com.
Missouri Sports Betting Market Access Partners
As part of Missouri’s opening up to legal sports betting, the state agreed to hand out up to 14 licenses: 12 tethered and two untethered licenses. Untethered licenses do not require a market access partner. DraftKings and Circa Sports were awarded the two untethered licenses.
Eight sportsbooks have filed applications for tethered licenses before the September 21 deadline. Here is each applicant and their market access partner (if they’ve been announced);
| Sportsbook | Market Access Partner |
|---|---|
| FanDuel | St. Louis City FC |
| bet365 | St. Louis Cardinals |
| BetMGM | Century Casinos |
| Underdog | Kansas City Royals |
| Fanatics | Boyd Gaming |
| Caesars Sportsbook | Casino Properties |
| ESPN Bet | Casino Properties |
| Kambi | N/A |
Missouri Sports Betting Launch Timeline
- August 30, 2024: Legalizing sports betting in the Show-Me State occurred with the passage of Amendment 2 by the narrowest of margins. The amendment received only 2,961 more votes or 50.05%.
- August 15, 2025: The Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC) approved DraftKings and Circa Sports as the state’s two untethered license holders.
- September 30, 2025: The MGC announces the full list of tethered applicants: bet365, BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, ESPN Bet, Fanatics Sportsbook, FanDuel, Kambi, and Underdog Sports.
- December 1, 2025: Missouri’s sports betting market will go live.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.oddsshark.com ’
