Underdog gains Missouri market access through Kansas City Royals deal
DFS operator says its sports betting license is still pending with Missouri Gaming Commission, with the market set to go live on December 1
Underdog has signed a multi-year market-access deal with the Kansas City Royals ahead of Missouri’s online sports betting launch on December 1.
The announcement comes after DraftKings and Circa Sports secured the only two untethered sports betting licenses in the Show-Me State.
As per the terms of the deal, the operator will become the baseball franchises’ sports betting partner.
Underdog’s deal will also involve marketing campaigns and “philanthropic efforts” with the Major League Baseball franchise.
Stacie Stern, Underdog SVP of government affairs and partnerships, said: “The Royals have forged a deep and authentic connection with baseball fans throughout the Kansas City region, in Missouri and beyond.
“We’ve built our products with the same approach — real, organic connection with sports fans to get to one goal: make sports more fun.
“We are going to work with the Royals to bring the best sports betting experience possible to fans in Missouri, while we continue to drive innovation in sports gaming and expand our product offerings in new states.”
Brooks Sherman, Royals president of business operations, added: “The Royals look forward to continuing and enhancing our partnership with Underdog, which is our longest-standing relationship in sports gaming.
“We’ve partnered with them on some of our most engaging fan programs, like ‘Bark at the Park’ and the ‘Underdog Hot Dog Derby’ and we look forward to working with Underdog to provide Royals fans throughout Missouri the opportunity to have even more fun while watching sports.”
Underdog still has a sports betting license application pending with the Missouri Gaming Commission.
A number of operators already have market access deals in place, including BetMGM partnering with Century Casinos in May and FanDuel teaming up with MLS team St Louis City.
No operator has yet to strike a deal with NFL franchise the Kansas City Chiefs.
Last month, EGR examined how the industry was gearing up for the 2025 NFL season and how it will react to Missouri’s launch later this year.
Earlier this month, Underdog announced it will launch prediction markets in the US in collaboration with crypto exchange Crypto.com.