On Monday December 1, Missouri sports fans will have legal access to sports betting in their state for the first time. Much of the interest has (understandably) been on the hugely popular Super Bowl winning Kansas City Chiefs and the kind of wagers that might be put on them – but Missouri’s St. Louis Cardinals are also a big team. So how might the introduction of sports betting might effect fans of Missouri’s MLB stalwarts?
This article will look at the data in previous state launches during the expansion of sports betting, and it how it might inform the Missouri market. It will also look at the ways in which fans adapt to the sports betting experience, as well as previewing some 25/26 season betting stories that Cardinals fans living in Missouri will now be able to legally wager on for the first time.
The St. Louis Cardinals Have a Large Audience that Sportsbooks will Tap Into
The St. Louis Cardinals are one of Major League Baseball’s most interesting teams. While the not the biggest name outside of the US, The Cardinals have a passionately engaged fanbase as a historic team. They’ve won 11 World Series championships – although the last one was in 2009 – and they’re second only to the New York Yankees in terms of MLB wins.
Despite patchy performance in recent years, the Cardinals consistently rank highly in MLB attendance figures. Some 4 million people a season passed through the Busch Stadium in 2024, and games also rank consistently high on TV.
Missouri sportsbooks will be looking to tap into the Cardinal’s fan base from day one. Many are already offering special promos and bets on the team for the launch. Find out which sportsbooks have the best offers, promos, MLB odds and more with a comprehensive comparison of all the day one offerings so far.
When applying for a Missouri sports betting license, most operators had to partner with a local organization. The Cardinal’s have partnered with British sportsbook brand bet365 – so one immediate change will probably be seeing their branding on matchdays in other promotional materials.
Market Uptake Could Be Huge, if Other Launches are a Guide
In recent years several states have legalized sports betting, and seen billions wagered in the first year. Most analysts expect Missourians to wager at least $200 million in the first month of sports betting in the state.
Around 10% to 15% of sports wagers in the US are on baseball, when it is in season, which would suggest an impressive $20 million to $25 million as a ballpark figure. MLB’s large number of games in a regular season also makes it attractive to regular bettors, who have a lot of data and patterns to work with when trying to find an edge. It remains the third most bet on sport across the US, after football and basketball.
The most recent states to launch sports betting saw the following handles in their first full month with a legal market:
- Maine (2023): $37 million
- Massachusetts (2023): $568
- Ohio (2023): $1.1 billion in first month — one of the biggest launches ever
- Maryland (December 2022): $478 million
- Kansas (2022): $160 million
- North Carolina (2024): $659 million
Missouri has a lot of popular sports teams, including the Kansas City Chiefs and The St. Louis Cardinals, but it doesn’t have the largest population. So a middle of the pack estimate seems about right for opening month.
On Field Storylines Bettors Will be Looking Out For
Obviously, many fans will simply want to bet on their team to win. Fair enough. However, they will have little chance to do that because the MLB season is over until Friday, February 20, next year. In terms of baseball betting in the US, more than 50% is wagered in play. So, unless Cardinals fans want to immediately bet on the team to win the World Series next year – there will be little action on the team until 2026.
That bet is a long shot by the way, with odds of around +1000 at most US sportsbooks. Meaning the ‘books think the Missouri team has around a 0.1% chance of winning it all next year. Stranger things have happened, and they have won it 11 times before.
For fans who haven’t got the stomach (or are too real to risk it) a potential value bet could be Cardinals on the over for wins. Many fan and expert predictions have them pegged on another tough season, often hovering around the 75 – 80 win mark. They just scraped 80 wins last season, with 2023 seeing their lowest number of wins (71) for years.
If you can get some good odds on the over 80 wins, which you probably can, this could be an outside value bet for Cardinals fans. A revitalised rotation and a few young hitters finding form could push them past expectations. It’s a speculative wager, but as a season long storyline to follow for the first year of legal betting – it makes sense.
