Underdog and Kansas City Royals announce sports betting agreement in Missouri

With Missouri’s sports betting market set to open on December 1, the Kansas City Royals have joined other professional sports teams forming alliances with gaming operators—this time partnering with Underdog, which is preparing to offer its sportsbook in the state through the collaboration.

The partnership between Underdog and the Royals is subject to approval by the Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC). The agency is expected to issue temporary approvals later in October, allowing licensed operators to begin user registration and deposits on November 17, ahead of the market’s formal launch.

Underdog confirmed its agreement with the Royals after completing the MGC application process. The company already offers daily fantasy sports contests to players in Missouri.

The Royals and Underdog have worked together before on fan-oriented promotions such as “Bark at the Park” and the “Underdog Hot Dog Derby.” The new arrangement extends that relationship into Missouri’s regulated sports betting market.

“The Royals have forged a deep and authentic connection with baseball fans throughout the Kansas City region, in Missouri and beyond,” said Stacie Stern, Underdog’s Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Partnerships, in a statement. “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,” Stern added.

Brooks Sherman, the Royals’ President of Business Operations, said the organization sees the collaboration as a continuation of an established partnership. “The Royals look forward to continuing and enhancing our partnership with Underdog, which is our longest-standing relationship in sports gaming,” Sherman said.

“We’ve partnered with them on some of our most engaging fan programmes, 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.”

Founded in 2020, Underdog first entered the market with daily fantasy sports before moving into online sports betting. It currently operates a sportsbook in North Carolina and holds licenses in Ohio and Colorado. The company also announced its entry into sports event contracts through a partnership with Crypto.com.

Missouri voters approved legal sports betting in November 2024 after multiple legislative attempts. The new law authorizes the state’s 13 casinos and six professional sports teams to operate both online and retail sportsbooks.

In August, the MGC granted two untethered licenses to DraftKings and Circa Sports. FanDuel, which applied for one of the two available standalone licenses but was not awarded one, later reached an agreement with St. Louis City FC for market access.

Other sportsbook partnerships in the state include Bet365 with the St. Louis Cardinals, BetMGM with Century Casinos, Caesars through Harrah’s Kansas City and Horseshoe St. Louis, ESPN Bet through Penn Entertainment’s Hollywood Casino and River City Casino, and Fanatics with Boyd Gaming.