A GeoLocation firm has been tracking the numbers at the Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Chiefs, revealing some interesting habits about the betting data patterns of sports fans in Missouri in the first few weeks of legalized sports betting in the state.
GeoComply, which provides compliance, fraud prevention and cybersecurity solutions, revealed there were more than 10,000 active users during Sunday night’s NFL clash between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans, which resulted in a 20-10 victory for the visiting team. There were 43,000+ geolocation checks in that timeframe alone, a notable volume given the stadium’s 76,416 capacity, which is the sixth-highest in the National Football League (NFL).
The company shed more light on the wider impact of legalized betting in the state. They reported “more than 250,000 sports betting accounts were active on December 1st and nearly 188,000 pre-registered accounts were created leading up to the launch.”
Kip Levin, GeoComply CEO, argued the implementation of safer gambling practices is further evidence of the benefits to legalizing the sports betting practice: “Missouri has shown for years that it’s one of the most eager states in the country for legal sports betting. What we’ve seen in the first 24 hours is remarkable. Tens of thousands of Missourians immediately joined safe, regulated platforms the moment they became legal. It’s a powerful reminder of how quickly consumers embrace a well-regulated market when the option finally exists.”
Sports Betting Alliance pleased with turnout
The numbers caught the eye of a coalition of legal sports betting platforms known as the Sports Betting Alliance (SBA), which includes Bet365, BetMGM, and DraftKings. Spokesman Jack Cardetti said: “When you’re the 39th state to legalize sports betting, you have lots of different residents that were already, frankly, betting on sports in Missouri. They just either had to travel to one of our seven neighboring states that had previously legalized sports betting, or they were utilizing illegal offshore websites to do so.”
One of the key conditions of Amendment 2 is that a portion of the revenues from sports betting will go to the Missouri Department of Education. The SBA was previously known as Winning For Missouri Education, a PAC funded by sports betting companies.
Mr Cardetti added: “One of those added benefits is going to be permanent, dedicated funding straight to Missouri education. Sports betting isn’t going away anytime soon, so the fact that those funds will go towards education now and into the foreseeable future, we think, is a really positive benefit from this in general.”
Quick ID verification credited for large number of new customers
One of the key facets to a smooth sign up process for new players is ID verification, which all customers must complete before they can place bets at any sports betting site under the new regulations. According to GeoComply, 92% of the bettors who signed up in the first week of December benefited from a quick ID verification process.
Stephen Crystal, CEO of global gambling industry advisory firm SCCG Management, said in an interview earlier in the year that he believes biometrics to be “the lynchpin of where gaming companies need to be as gaming continues to expand.” He added: “Most operations really begin and end with the KYC process, the onboarding process.”
Missouri’s launch is already emerging as a national test case for how quickly a newly regulated market can shift from operational rollout to deeper debates over federal versus state oversight.
Lawmakers turn their attention to predictions markets
Missourians narrowly voted in favor of Amendment 2 in November 2024. Victorious voters have access to several leading betting companies, including DraftKings, FanDuel Sportsbook, Circa Sports, Fanatics Sportsbook, Caesars Sportsbook, BetMGM, Penn Sports Interactive and bet365. The state is allowed to issue 14 licenses in total, so more big names are likely to follow.
After a year of intense preparation, the rollout has largely been considered a success. But no sooner had the first bet been accepted by a legal sportsbook, the Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC) turned its focus on prediction markets. Chair of the MGC, Jan Zimmerman said in an interview last week: ““Ten thousand questions out there at any given time that people can buy shares–yes or no and all that. I’m for sure watching this and how it will impact sports wagering,”
The two major prediction market players, Polymarket and Kalshi, have been in the news lately, as states aim to combat the issues arising from trading on so-called sports event contracts. Judge Andrew Gordon for the District of Nevada recently ruled Kalshi would have to operate under the state’s gaming commission laws, arguing the company was upsetting “decades of federalism regarding gaming regulation, which is contrary to Congress’ intent behind the Commodity Exchange Act, and cannot be sustained.”
Kalshi is facing a wave of similar challenges in other jurisdictions, as state attorneys general and gaming boards reassess whether prediction markets intrude on their regulatory turf. Some legal scholars warn that the Nevada decision, if echoed elsewhere, could fracture the national market Kalshi and Polymarket is trying to build and force the company into a patchwork of state-by-state compliance or litigation. Professor emeritus at Whittier College, I. Nelson Rose, said in an interview last month: “Of course it’s gambling. The idea that it’s a sports-event contract doesn’t make it any less gambling.
References
- Fox4 Morning News: https://fox4kc.com/news/arrowhead-stadium-emerges-as-sports-betting-hotspot-in-missouri-launch-weekend/
- ESPN: https://www.espn.com/nfl/attendance
- Covers: https://www.covers.com/industry/missouri-sports-betting-focus-shifts-predictions-december-9-2025
- Biometric Update: https://www.biometricupdate.com/202503/biometrics-the-lynchpin-of-where-gaming-companies-need-to-be-says-gambling-executive
- Market Watch: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/is-betting-on-football-gambling-prediction-markets-are-battling-to-redefine-wagers-d66f667b
