JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri gaming regulators on Thursday rejected a request by the NCAA to restrict betting on the performance of college athletes in response to recent scandals, but left open the possibility of revisiting the issue as the state's nascent sports betting market becomes better established.
The Missouri Gaming Commission's action came just a week after the NCAA sent a letter to state gaming oversight boards asking them to ban college athlete betting, a popular type of bet focused on what individual players will do in a game, such as score a certain number of points in basketball or surpass a certain passing distance in football. The NCAA also urged states to ban other special bets, such as bets on whether a team will trail by a particular point difference at halftime of a game.
The NCAA maintains that such bets are ripe for manipulation by athletes who face pressure, harassment or bribery from players. He pointed to last week's federal indictment of more than two dozen people for alleged bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy in a scheme involving more than 39 players on more than 17 NCAA Division I men's basketball teams attempting to fix more than 29 games.
But Missouri gaming regulators said they did not want to change the state's rules less than two months after legal sports betting launched in the state. Missouri became the 39th (and last) state to allow sports betting on Dec. 1 under a state constitutional amendment that narrowly won voter approval.
“I just don't feel like I have enough information to agree to a request from the NCAA to ban this type of sports betting because I don't know enough yet,” commission chairman Jan Zimmerman said.
Legal sports betting has spread rapidly across the United States since the Supreme Court paved the way for states to adopt it in 2018. Through the first 11 months of 2025, legal sports betting generated $15 billion in revenue, up more than 17% from the same period a year earlier, according to the American Gaming Association. Missouri has not yet reported its initial sports betting revenue.
Currently, prop betting for professional athletes is allowed in all states that have legalized sports betting. But states have very different rules for betting on college athletes.
More than a dozen states impose no limits on college prop betting, while nearly an equal number prohibit all such betting. Missouri is among several states that fall somewhere in between. Prohibits prop betting on athletes playing in games involving Missouri colleges and universities, but allows it for all other college games.
In 2023, the NCAA began encouraging states to adopt restrictions on betting involving college athletes. Since then, Louisiana, Maryland, Ohio and Vermont have joined the ranks of states that ban individual betting on college athletes.
NCAA President Charlie Baker said in his recent letter to state gaming regulators that his office “regularly hears concerns from schools and student-athletes across the country about the impacts of sports betting,” including prop betting.
Rather than providing reasons to restrict betting on college athletes, the Sports Betting Alliance said the case highlights how legal sportsbooks can help detect cases of irregularities that might otherwise go undetected if people placed bets through unregulated sportsbooks.
The alliance, which includes Bet365, DraftKings and Fanatics Betting & Gaming, argued that the NCAA's request did not meet Missouri's criteria for regulatory reviews and “should not trigger a sea change” in the state's new sports betting industry.
Others also expressed opposition to NCAA-backed betting limits.
Restricting prop betting to college athletes would drive gamblers to “illegal and offshore operators” with less consumer protection, Kansas City sports bettor Chuck Kucera said in written comments to the commission.
“The NCAA's efforts would be better directed toward player education, internal compliance and enforcement of its own rules,” Kucera wrote.
